The Girl who Danced on my Feet
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: WARNING! EROTICA! 1940's A&A return! I have gotten a lot of love and requests to bring back the story from "Don't lose yourself" and "When we were lost". So WW2 Arthur is back. It's not a dream!
1. Chapter 1

** So, when ever I show off my lovely fan art "The Girl Who Danced on My Feet" by Reynaile, people want to read the story. Since I don't want my closest friends to know what a HUGE, perverted nerd I am, I wrote this and will change the names of all the main characters before they read it. **

** Also, people seemed to keep wanting more 1940s Arthur. JGL needs to do a WW2 movie. NOW! **

**But, till he does, since I'm the writer, I'm making an extended story about 1940's A&A. This has always been a fun story to write. I hope it's a fun story to read. **

** ~ This is NOT a dream. ~**

** It will tell the story of before A&A met until the end of the war. I will keep a lot of the more iconic parts that people liked and add more detail.**

** I am NOT a historian or WW2 expert! **

** All I know about WW2 is what I can find on the internet and what older people have told me**.

** Please enjoy and review!**

**The Girl who Danced on my Feet**

~ _France, Summer of 1940_ ~

~ It was such an odd day for evacuation. Such fine, clear skies. Peaceful, warm weather. Nothing scary at all. Ariadne and her cousin Phillip had left that morning on their bicycles as his parents finished packing the car with the family silver, furs and other irreplaceable things that they didn't want the Nazis to get.

Madam Durand had gathered her large family around the radio the night before and they listened to the far away news that the impossible had happened. Germany had invaded French soil. Monsieur Durand felt that surely, Paris would not fall to the invaders. The family estate was a short drive from the city and the entire threat felt very far away.

His wife, a haughty woman of well breading disagreed.

"No, it will be best if the family went to stay at my sister, till we know what is what." She had said. That had been the end of the discussion. Bags were packed that evening, no arguments.

~ Ariadne was still naive enough to think that evacuation would be exciting. Since she had completed school and started at University, she had been aching for something to finally happen with this war. For ages it had been nothing but men talking and listening to the radio late at night.

She had been rudely shocked into the reality of war one night as the bombing started. No one in the family knew precisely what to do and left lights burning as they fled into the shelter in the basement. That first night of bombing had been exciting, but it grew old fast. Only the children in the rural neighborhood seemed to think the whole thing was an adventure. The threat of war making little boys and girls run wild in the streets.

~ It had been late in the morning before Ariadne and her teenage cousin Phillip had been able to finally leave the house on their bikes. The entire family in an uproar over what to take and what to leave behind.

The two oldest children of the house felt oddly free to be allowed to peddle ahead.

"Look at that." Phillip said nudging her. Ariadne stopped her bicycle and followed his gaze.

The road they were attempting to get on was congested with cars, all of them inching forward at a maddeningly slow pace. On the shoulder and in ditches, large black cars were stalled either out of fuel or overheated.

"Maybe we should go back home." Ariadne said to her cousin.

Phillip was 16 already and the man of the house when his father was away. A job he took most seriously. He often used his position to bully his older cousin who had come from Canada after her parents had died of influenza. But the threat of war had made him act better lately and they had called a truce to their bickering.

"No, Mama wants us to go to Aunt Lucy's house. It's only ten more miles." He said. "We should get there before nightfall. She'll have something for us to eat."  
"What if they try and take our bikes away?" Ariadne asked wishing she had thought to bring more water. It was summer and almost noon. This grand adventure of riding their bikes to Aunt Lucy's was starting to seem like a bad idea.

"We'll stay away from them." Phillip said. "Just stay close to me."

Ariadne nodded and peddled after her cousin. Although only 16, Phillip was tall, and almost looked like a man. By contrast, she was small for a girl of 20. Her petite body aggravating Madam Durand, who herself had grown fat from having so many children.

Since Ariadne had come to the Durand family, 10 years ago, she had been like some kind of family, who was not really family. She was given a small room and clothes that were no longer used by them. She was treated well enough, although never with any kind of love or affection as she would have liked. Her Aunt ruled the house and didn't like her husband's niece coming to live with them. Still, she had never been especially ill treated by the family that wasn't hers.

She had no family left.

She followed Phillip as the pair quickly peddled past the cars and pedestrians carrying suitcases and wearing their best traveling clothes. Many of them shouting for them to stop. After almost an hour of riding, they were able to leave the line of clogged traffic.

"That was scary." Ariadne said as she and Phillip pulled their bikes to a clean looking little stream and stopping for a well deserved rest. Her legs hurt and she was still too hot and thirsty. She and Phillip drank from the stream and refilled the green, glass water bottle for the rest of the journey.

"Yes." Phillip agreed as they rested.

~ They had fallen asleep from the heat, their ride and too much excitement. When they woke up, it was evening. A merciful coolness had fallen on them and they could hear people shouting. People were still on the road and it scared her. She wasn't used to seeing so many people on this seldom used road.

"I'm starving." Phillip announced.

Ariadne nodded. They hadn't brought a food pail with them. The ride to Aunt Lucy's was so short, they didn't think they would need it.

The shouting grew louder and it brought them back to what was happening.

"We need to go." Phillip said as the took their bikes out of the tall weeds they had hidden them in.

Avoiding the panicked people and cars, they rode in the weak light of car headlights and the moon.

~"The power's out." Ariadne said when they rode into the small village where their Aunt Lucy lived.

"German's must have cut the electricity." Phillip said as they rode past the people who were scatted around the village. All of them wanting food, lodging and above all, water and fuel.

The Durand family had lived in the country about 30 miles outside of Paris and thought that they had gotten a jump on the inevitable evacuations. But the crowds of people swarming the inns and homes told them otherwise.

"Do you think the Germans are that far in?" She whispered as they watched the eerie sight of people sitting at an outdoor cafe in the dark of evening. Looking out of place in the normally quite streets.

"I don't know." Phillip whispered back.

They found Aunt Lucy's house and while Ariadne was knocking on the front door and looking in widows, Phillip went around the property and quickly came back.

"The car is gone." He grumbled.

"Do you think they all left? Do you think your parents left without us?" She asked feeling panicked.

"You saw the cars. They way they were on the road." Phillip said bracingly. He stood straighter as he was obviously trying to remain calm. "No, I doubt that Mama and Papa even made it past that." He said. "They had the car loaded down with the children and all their things."

With ease, Phillip opened the back door and they stole inside the dark house. The most immediate task was to search for food. Aunt Lucy had always kept the larder in the kitchen stocked, but the family had taken most of that with them.

Ariadne and Phillip found some canned fruit and cheese. They had a filling, but odd meal from the dregs of Aunt Lucy's kitchen. Afraid of lighting a candle, afraid the light might cause the hungry evacuees to break in, the two of them sat in the dark under the dinning room table. This way, no one could see them moving around in the house from the windows.

"Your parents said to come here." Ariadne whispered.

"I know." he hissed back. His normally youthful face lined with worry.

"What do we do now?" She asked feeling scared. The war was no longer romantic or exiting. The war was frighting and too real. Her body hurt from their long ride in the summer heat. Her head ached from being outside in the sun all day.

"I don't know." He whispered.

"We can't stay here." She hissed.

"I know." He said obviously frustrated.

~ In the bright morning, Ariadne and Phillip were back on the road again. They were following the line of people still fleeing. Trusting the horde knew where it were going. From Aunt Lucy's house, they loaded the back racks of their bicycles with what little food the house had left. Jams mostly. Ariadne had left her small amount of clothing with her Aunt to be packed in the car. She and Phillip had no changes of clothes and all she had in the world now was a simple brown dress that was too big, and a bag containing her most precious possessions. Things she had brought with her from her first home. Trinkets now safely stowed in a school satchel that she had crossed over her body.

They rode in silence among the slow and dead traffic. The heat coming back under a cloudless sky. Ariadne already felt dizzy and sick from the warm weather as they rode past more stalled cars. More people walking and shouting. More cars hopeless abandoned on the road as people walked to whatever salvation they hoped waited for them.

~ Eventually, they found themselves in company with a group of students from the university who shared a small meal with them. Phillip and Ariadne were happy to share their store of jams if it meant they could have bread.

"We heard the Germans will be in Paris in less then a week." One boy said as he smoked a hand rolled cigarette.

"I heard they were there already." Another boy said as his girlfriend looked worried.

They watched the progression of slow traffic from their spot in a field. The young people silent and scared as they sat on a quilt Ariadne had thought to get from Aunt Lucy's home.

"So, where are you going?" Phillip asked them.

"Great Britain, of course." Yet another young man said. He had an English accent. "Your welcome to join us, I was told that our boys are evacuating as well."

"Well, who's going to stay and fight the Nazi?" Ariadne asked the group in general. All of them looked at each other and remained silent.

As night rolled back around again, Ariadne and Phillip stayed with the students.  
"Ari-bell?" He whispered in the darkness as they all laid out on the quilt. The clear night sky as their cover and nature their room. He used the nickname she had always hated because, upon her arrival with the family, he insisted her name was not French enough. Now, she was glad something from her old life still lingered.

"Are you scared?" he asked.

"Are you?" She asked back.

"I'm worried my parents didn't make it out." He whispered. "I think I should go back and find out."

"We need to stay together!" She hissed.

"They might need me. They have the little ones with them."

"_I_ need you." She almost cried as the students they had decided to travel with, slept on.

~ In the morning, Phillip took half of the food and told her to write to the house if she got to England. She watched in self pitting horror as her only family vanished in the opposite direction. The crowds of slow moving cars and people swallowing him up.

~ It was at a train station that she was glad she had stayed with the students. One of the boys argued passionately for all of them to get on. They all had to abandon their bikes and pack themselves in tightly into a passenger car. Ariadne clutching tightly her school satchel. Her food supplies long gone.

Even though her feet hurt and her body was sore for her riding, she was not able to sit down. The train was already too crowded. Instead, she had to keep her balance as the train lurched onward.

~ For a while, she thought that the train might take them all the way out of France. One of the students explaining to the group in hushed whispers about where they would go once the train let them off.

"We'll need money." He told them. "We might have to buy our way out of the country."

Money wasn't an issue for Ariadne. She had none. Her Aunt was not found of giving her pocket money and she wondered what she would do if she couldn't get out.

If she was left behind in the claws of the encroaching enemy.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ The train dropped its cargo of displaced souls in at a nameless village an hour later.

"What's going on?" An older man shouted as the train conductor told everyone they had to get off.

"The Germans have blown up the tracks." The conductor said. "The bombing has gotten worse."

Ariadne stayed close to the students. One of the boys girlfriend looking especially scared.

"I just want to get back home to mother." She told her as Ariadne held her hand. The girls natural instincts telling them to stay close to each other.

~ They were all hungry and thirsty as they walked to the next village, and then the next. No where was there a place to rest or buy food.

"We should have stayed in Paris." The girlfriend said worriedly. "Were going to die out here."

Ariadne had to agree. The threat of the invasion seemed livable next to her swollen and painful feet. When they had stopped for the night, she took off her shoes. She gasped at the sight of the bright red blood on her socks. Her feet were bleeding.

~ During the night, on of the students roused them awake. They had once again camped under the clear night sky on the quilt Ariadne carried.

"We have to go. The Germans!" He hissed. The young people hurriedly packed their things and fled from the village they camped near. Ariadne saw bright head lights flooding the dark village streets as the invaders drove brazenly in. Announcing that each man, woman and child present themselves.

~ Their group vanished into the woods. Hurriedly and quietly stealing away until dawn.

~ The students and Ariadne found others on the road they walked. They heard more news of the German advancement as Ariadne felt ready to faint from hunger and the heat.

"I can't walk anymore." Ariadne whispered to the girlfriend.

"That man says they were all taking a bath by this river not far away." The girlfriend said. Her eyes looking worn and sunken. "He saw bodies floating by. They had all been shot. Not just soldiers, but children to."

They kept walking.

~ After days like this, they reached Dunkirk. It was a strange carnival like place as the group was met by soldiers, both British and French.

"We can get out now." One of the students said hopefully.

Ariadne had taken off her shoes again and looked sadly at the blood. There were sores all over her feet and they were swollen from all the walking.

The beach was like some sort of purgatory. A midway point between the hell they were trying to escape from and heaven that meant their survival. Everywhere, there were cars and trucks and people. All of them screaming and trying to barter passage off the beach.

"Their not letting civilians on." On of the students said. His girlfriend started to cry and leaned on Ariadne as the girls sat on the beach and watched the strange sights of boats and fires. Things that looks like they belonged in Dante's 'Inferno' and had no place in the real world.

"Maybe we died walking." Ariadne said as this place couldn't be real.  
"We have to get on one of those boats." One of the students said as other people listened to them for news.

"We'll pay them money. There has to be a way." An older man said.

"Who has money? What good is money in war time?" Another woman told them.

Ariadne looked worriedly at all the other people desperate to leave this beach. Her bag containing nothing but a small framed picture of her family before they died. Her grandmother's silver compact, her mother's locket, her identity papers and other small essentials. She had no money, nothing of any value.

~ For hours the students argued with whoever they could find to get them off the beach and into England.

Ariadne kept her shoes off as the sun beat down on them. Their escape was so close. Surely they would not be left behind.

"I see you have a little problem." Came a voice in English that broke Ariadne's thoughts. She looked up and squinted in the sunlight.

A man was standing over her. He was still young, but was older then she was. His face was handsome and she realized she was looking at him in wonder as he shouldered his rifle and knelt down next to her.

"Sorry?" She asked him in English. She could tell by his accent and dress that he was a British solider.

"Your feet. How long have you in your friends been walking?" He asked as he pulled out his first aide pack. Unrolling iodine from it.

"Too long." She whispered as he gently patted her bleeding sores with the iodine. Making her wince from the sting.

"Can't let this get infected, Darling." He said.

"Were waiting for a boat to take us out of here." Ariadne told him as the girlfriend was clinging weakly to her.

She realized that she must look as bad, if not worse, then the rest of the people in her company. It had been days since she had a bath and she was sure her hair, her face and body all looked and smelled awful. She didn't want to look awful in front of this British solider.

"They won't be letting civilians on the boats. Not yet anyway." He told her gently. "It's more important that we get the troops out. The Germans won't capture you lot." He answered her unasked question.

"It _is_ more important the troops get out." She agreed sadly.

"My name is Eames." He told her as he finished wrapping her feet. "I can ask around. See what I can do. I want you to stay here." He told her.

Ariadne nodded.

"I don't have any money." She whispered. Eames shook his head. "Don't worry about that."

~ Ariadne stayed on the beach just like Eames said to. The other students and people they were traveling with splintered off from them as they begged for passage out of France.

Finally, as night fell, Eames came back.

"I set something up. I told them you were British citizens and nurses. But you have to leave now." He sad helping Ariadne to stand.

"Richard!" The girlfriend said looking around for the young man they had traveled with. Her boyfriend had wandered off and she refused to leave without him.

"Come on." Eames said as Ariadne almost fell back into the sand. Her feet hurting too much.

"My feet!" She cried. Ashamed of herself that she couldn't even stand anymore.

She felt Eames pick her up and carry her away from the beach. The girlfriend crying for her to stay as they left her there.

~ Eames took her to a long line of troops waiting to wade out into the ocean and board a small boat.

"Don't say anything." he whispered to her as they received curious looks. Her feet were bleeding through her bandages.

"What will happen when I get there?" She asked worriedly as red flares shot over the sky. Lighting up the darkening sea. Revealing more boats swarming the beach.

"Worry about it then." He whispered as the line moved and Eames was forced to walk with her into the ocean. The water came up to his hips as he reached the small boat. Her dress barely getting wet as he handed her over to a solider there.

"What's this civilian doing here, Lieutenant?" The solider barked at him.  
"She's a nurse. See to it she gets to the hospital." Eames shouted rudely back at him as he handed Ariadne an envelope.

"Transit papers." He whispered to her. His eyes were calm and stead fast as she knew she must look frightened.

She nodded and held them close to her chest.

"Her passage has been cleared!" Eames shouted at the man commanding the little boat.

"Yes, Lieutenant!" The solider said as the waves lapped over her savior.

She watched as Eames waded back to shore.

"Wait!" She shouted back.

He turned around.

"What about you?" She called. She didn't want to be alone. Not again.  
"I'll be fine!" He said as more troops climbed aboard the boat.

The man who saved her life vanishing from sight as the boat took her away from the shore. Away from France and into a new life.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

_~ America. Summer of 1940 ~_

~ "Roosevelt will not bring us into the war." Lydia was telling the family as the cook brought out a well prepared dinner for them.

Arthur shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He and his father had read about Hitler's advancements across Europe in the papers and they both felt the U.S. Would soon have no choice but to enter the war.

"You can't know that, Mother." Beth said instead. His older sister was the only one in the family who had the courage to stand up to their mother.  
"Yes I do." Lydia snapped.

She sat at the opposite end of her rich, oak dinning table. Her four children, three sons and one daughter, at each side and her husband across from her. Adam might have been the husband and father, the man of the house, but Lydia rained supreme in all things.

"America is just now getting back on it's feet after the disastrous state Hoover left things. Roosevelt will not waste our resources and send us into debt over Europe's war. A thing that has nothing to do with us." Lydia told them.

"Perhaps we should call Hitler and inform him that, because you said so, he need to goose step himself back to Germany." Beth bit back.

Lydia looked scathingly at her daughter. No one annoyed Lydia mother more then her daughter. The men of the house were pleased that they never had to engage their wife and mother in battle. Beth was always happy to lead the charge.  
"How are you liking Hawaii, David?" Adam asked his oldest son. Hoping to stop the talk of war.

"Fine, Dad." David said with a bright smile.

Arthur looked at his oldest brother. David was tanned and carefree in his crisp, white uniform. He was an officer in the Navy and stationed at Pearl Harbor. He always sending home postcards of what he said was the most beautiful place on earth.

"All we do is surf and play this game called volleyball." He said passing his other brother, Jacob, the dinner rolls.

"Surf?" Lydia asked with a scowl. "Is that what you do with the native girls?" She asked worriedly.  
"No, mother." Beth said. "David tries to balance on an ironing board while the waves hit him. Then he tries not to drown."

"I don't want you drowning." Lydia said to her oldest, and most prized son.  
Arthur had to smother a laugh. When David came home, looking far too impressive with his Navy uniform, he had gotten him in a head lock and messed up his hair.

"Aloha, little brother." He said before releasing him. His oldest brother had gotten stronger from the service and tended to pick on Arthur like he was still a child, despite the fact that Arthur was grown and in college.

Added to the fact his other brother, Jacob, was a pilot in the Army. But there was talk of something called the Army Air force taking control. Like David, Jacob looked dashing and reckless with the confidence of youth. Arthur had never been as handsome as David, as confident as Jacob or as witty as Beth.

In many ways, he still felt like a child among grown ups. He wasn't expected to do anything but what he was told.

"If the war does come, I'll join the Army." Arthur announced suddenly. The entire table fell silent at what he said. The family never paid much attention to Arthur except to ask how school was.

"You most certainly will not." Lydia gasped. Her hand fluttering to her chest.

"I might join as soon as I'm done with school. But the way things are shaping up, this war will catch up with us." He told the table.

Beth looked at her brother worriedly. Adam said nothing but sat a little straighter at his dinner table.

"You will join your father's law firm after school." Lydia scolded. "War is no place for a boy like you."

"I'm not a boy, _Mother_." Arthur said. A slight edge to his voice. "400 thousand soldiers just evacuated out of France because of Hitler's advancement. How long can we stand by? We stood by and did _nothing_ as he took Paris. Will we stand by and do nothing when he takes London? When he comes marching into New York, it will be too late." Arthur said boldly. Not knowing where he found such courage.

"He will not come to America." Lydia said wanting to end the argument.

Beth sat up and took her's and Arthur's empty water glasses. She put one to her ear and one to her mouth.

"Hallo? Is this Hitler? It is? I just wanted to let you know that Lydia says you will not be able to come to America. That's right. I'm sorry to. We were really looking forward to seeing you. Well, you know how she is, if she says you won't come then you won't come. Might as well leave Paris to. Because she said so, that's why." Beth said as if having a real conversation.

Her brothers and father all hiding little smiles behind their napkins.

"Stop it Beth!" Lydia said sharply.

"Oh, Hitler, Darling, I have to go. Give my best to the family before you have them lined up and shot." She said before putting the water glasses down.

"There is no more discussion on this matter. My son is not joining the Army. Not as an officer, not ever. It was bad enough that my oldest defied me and joined the Navy. I know full well what sailors do and that is why no respectable girl will have him."

"Respectable girls will have him, Mother. They just don't _stay_ respectable for very long when their with him." Beth said.

Her oldest brother laughed.

"Beth." Adam said trying not to smile.

Lydia took a deep breath.  
"It also doesn't help that my second born recklessly tries flies around in a plane even though I have told him it's _impossible_ to fly. Arthur, you are the one who will stay in the home and keep the family business. You will finish law school, and join your father in his practice. You will marry that nice girl Linda, and you will have a family of your own." Lydia said coldly.

"I'm not going to marry Linda." Arthur said.

The table was deathly silent and, for the second time that evening, all eyes were on the baby of the family.  
"What?" Lydia gasped in disbelief.

"I'm not going to marry Linda." Arthur repeated a little louder.

Lydia looked like she didn't understand.  
"_He said he's not going to marry Linda!_" Beth shouted in her mother's direction. Assuming that Lydia had lost her hearing.

"All of you go upstairs." Lydia said keeping her hard eyes on Arthur.

They didn't have to be told twice. The grown children beat a hasty retreat up the servants stairs and waited in the landing. Their parents never figuring out that they could still hear everything from there.

"Explain yourself." Lydia said to Arthur in a soft, deadly tone.

"You asked for the ring. You asked for your grandmother's ring to give to the girl." Adam said looking worriedly at his son.  
Arthur fished in his breast pocket and placed a tiny ring box on the table next to his father.

"I never gave it to her." Arthur said softly.  
"Why not?" Lydia almost shouted. "Linda is a fine girl from a good family. You go back to her and propose like you told us you would!"

"I don't love her." Arthur stammered.

"Why not?" Lydia shouted.  
"Because she's a horrible person, Mother!" Arthur shouted back. "She's always talking about how much money I'll make and what our wedding will be like. She's the most selfish girl I've ever met and she could never make me happy."

"So this is it. This is how you disgrace your family?" Lydia said sitting up straighter.  
"Now, Dear." Adam said raising a hand. The boy shouldn't marry a girl he doesn't love.  
"I'm not a boy." Arthur growled.

"Not a boy. A man is it?" Lydia said looking angry. "If I find out from Linda's mother that you have deflowered that girl, you _will_ marry her."

"I will not." Arthur said in a stony voice as he met his mother's gaze unflinchingly.

'_Standing up to the Nazis might feel something like this._' He thought.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ _America, January 1942 ~_

~ Arthur stood in the snow. The traditional hunt after their New Years seeming a somber, and pointless affair after the attacks.

His brother David had been at Pearl Harbor when the horrible thing happened. He had been stationed at the Harbor, and the family had not heard from him since the attacks less then a month ago. The war office not willing to report if he was truly dead or not.

Deep in his heart, Arthur knew his older brother had died in the attacks. Probably entombed in the ship he was so proud of. It's insides filling with water as he couldn't find a way out. The other men around him scared and banging on the hull as their fellow sailors tried to free them from the ship that became their graves.

Arthur shuttered. He didn't like to think about David these days. How he was so strong and youthful only a year ago. How David had been the prized son of the family. A feat Arthur could never reach.

He had finished his last semester of college. His natural gifts in school allowing him to complete his work and graduate mid year. His brother Jacob had already left that morning for the pacific. He was a pilot and would be under the command of Lt. Colonel James Doolittle.

Jacob's skills and fearlessness landing him a prestigious place with the other men who would strike back at Japan.

"I joined the Army, Dad." Arthur said as he felt his father stride next to him. The snow crunching on their feet as they looked over the winter stillness. Their guns not even loaded as they didn't have the heart to take any life just now.

"I thought you might." The older man said putting a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Have you told your mother?" He asked.

"Not yet." Arthur said sheepishly.

Deep down, his mother was a good person, but news of Pearl and David's certain death were hitting her hard. The family had always been so immune to tragedy before now. It had been a shock that one of them could die. A young man, so strong and so promising.

"So you'll face the Germans, and not your mother?" His father teased.  
"What makes you think I'll be going to Europe?" Arthur asked.

"Because you speak French and German. You have been to Europe before and you wanted to go there again." His father reasoned as the two men watched a doe walk gracefully into the clearing. A young fawn at her side. The beautiful creatures oblivious to the fact they were being watched as Arthur and his father respectfully observed them.

"I _am_ going to Europe." Arthur admitted sadly. "With what Hitler did to Stalin, the blockade around Leningrad, the Allies are running out of people who can help. If we don't do something soon, their will be no one left to defend us."  
"I don't need to remind you of what your Uncle Arron told us happened in Paris do I? They rounded up all the people they even _suspected_ of being Jewish and took them away. Japan might be safer for you. Although nothing is safe in a war." His father said.

"I know. But I feel like I have to go there." Arthur told his father sadly. "I feel like... it's my destiny."

"I was in Belgium during the Great War." The old man said casually. "War isn't fun. It's not romantic or easy. It's sickness, death and there are no real winners. I wasn't _destined_ to be there. I wasn't meant to see boys blown up. Dieing of infection in the mud far away from home."

Arthur looked at his father. He never spoke about his time in the Great War. A time, Arthur knew, that his father was in the hell of trench warfare.

"Why did you do it? Why did you volunteer?" He asked.  
"Because one day, when it was all over, I wanted the world to know what kind of man I was. I wanted my future sons to know that I was the kind of man who stood up, when others ran away." Adam said. "It was a foolish idea. A young man's idea." He said sadly.

"I know." Arthur said looking at the snow covered forest and not his father.  
"No. You don't." Adam snapped. "But you will. You have no idea how much it hurts me knowing David is gone. I know he died at Pearl. I know his body is still in that ship, and I know he died trying to save the men under his command. I know Jacob could die as well. I know you could die." He father said. The old man's voice breaking a little.

Arthur turned to look at his father.

"I hope you will never know what it's like to lose a son. To lose _any_ child." The old man said to the doe and her fawn. Not looking at Arthur.

"Please don't die over there, Son." He said as the deer stepped safely back into the forest. The fawn looking at the men before following her.

_~ London 1942 ~_

~ Ariadne had been taken directly to a hospital once she reached Dover. She had been fed and her feet treated. The papers Lieutenant Eames had given her, allowed her to stay in the county as long as she was willing to work for the war effort.

While in Dover, Red Cross nurses treated her. The hospital giving her a new toothbrush and even new shoes. Her old ones were broken and useless now.

She had no idea what happened to the students she had been traveling with. They had vanished from her life like ghosts. She wrote to her Aunt and Uncle at their home outside of Paris. Detailing that she was alive and in England, but the nurses told her it was doubtful mail would reach France for a long time. The Nazis had taken Paris and she was lucky to have gotten out at all.

She had decided she wanted to train with the Red Cross. The nurses there were highly skilled and very no nonsense. The other, more junior, nurses looked up to the them and were always asking them what to do.

Ariadne admired how fearless these women were. How they went with the troops into to the front and brought them back. They were not afraid of the bullets or the blood. They were not disgusted by the bleeding and crying of the wounded. Or even upset over the disgusting things the body did when someone was in pain. Their bowls releasing causing the less brave nurses to turn away.

Ariadne liked how stead fast they were. Liked how they held themselves with confidence and fearlessness. That was how she wanted to be. She wanted to enter a place and not be scared. She wanted to go into a room and know exactly what to do. Exactly what to say, and to never feel afraid again.

~ The training was brutal. If she had ever been skittish of anything before, the training beat it out of her. Never before had she seen a man naked below the waist. On her first day of training, she was expected to learn to run a catheter in and to help him shower and dress.

The constant call of _Nurse_ was everywhere as she could never get her work done fast enough.

She wanted to quit many times. The smells alone seeping into her clothes and skin. Smells of human waste, infection and vomit. Making her feel she could never be clean again. She would go back to her dormitory after the 16 hour shifts, exhausted and knowing she had to get up and do it again in a few hours.

But something in her told her to tough it out. She had no where else to go if she failed at this. That Lieutenant Eames, that kind stranger, had no doubt gotten in trouble over helping her out of France.

It became easier as she trained other nurses who were enlisting to work. Many of them not cut out for the horrors of the wounded. Many of them, girls who were too sheltered to see these things. Not prepared for the long hours and grueling work. Thinking nursing would only be about meeting cute soldiers. The real work shocking them away from the profession as they were expected to clean bedpans, wash sheets and mop floors.

Another thing that woke her rudely to war time, was London itself. Where the French enjoyed taking things at a slow pace, the British were the opposite.

The French would enjoy a meal and conversation that would stretch on for long, comfortable hours. They took their down time very seriously and didn't rush at anything. Appreciating the food, the wine, the company.

For the people of London, every second that was not spent helping the war effort, was a second wasted. A quick moment for yourself was the height of selfishness and earned you nasty looks from people.

Most Londoners she knew and worked with, would leave their job and go to work at some war related task. There was always something to do and the government encouraged the population to take on extra work. On her days off, Ariadne would go to a sewing circle and sew blankets or work in a day care or with the WVS.

The constant flow of activity kept her mind off of thinking about the family back in France. They were not really her family. She was never granted much more then a look by them. They didn't think of her as one of them. Still, they were all she had. She wrote them a few more times till one day a neat little pile of letters came to her from the post. They were all tied together and stamped with red ink.

_Undeliverable_

"Sorry." Trixie said when Ariadne saw her letters to the family had all been returned unopened. She worried that something must have happened to them. Were they still alive? What was happening in Paris right now? What were the Nazis doing?

~ The only friend she could really call her own was an American girl named Trixie. She was also a Red Cross nurse, but didn't carry herself like they had always been instructed to. Head high, shoulders back and to always look and act dignified and composed. Trixie was far too carefree to follow those rules. She thought the other nurses were just old biddies.

"So glad to be away from the hospital, Kid." Trixie was saying as the women were shopping for a better dress for Ariadne. Her entire wardrobe existed of two junior nurse's uniforms and aprons, a night gown and the battered dress she had fled France in.

Trixie was a bright, vivacious, American girl who thought the war was a truly great adventure. On her days off, she would want to drag Ariadne to the dance halls.

"It's our _duty_ to keep up the morale of our fighting men!" She would say.

Ariadne would tell her that she had nothing to wear, to which Trixie drug her almost kicking and screaming to one of the dress swap meet that were happening all over the city. In order to save on clothing, people dropped off old, but still serviceable, clothes to the meet and were able to get something newer for themselves. It was a practical thing except Ariadne had nothing to trade.

"You just pay them the difference." Trixie sighed forcing Ariadne to try things on. The meet was set up in a warehouse, the racks of clothing were maze like as women, young and old, undressed to try things on. Not having time to wait for a dressing room.

Because of the war, there was never enough time.

She was too small to fit comfortably into most things. Lacking the bust and hips Trixie had. The American girl seemed so full of life, with her blond curls and big smile. Her figure was beautiful and healthy. Trixie was a girl who never had walked till her feet bled. Who's lips were never chapped from thirst and her body never weak from hunger. Who had never arrived all alone in a new country, twice, with just the clothes on her back and little else.

"Try this!" Trixie said helping Ariadne out of an ugly eggplant dress and into a royal blue dress with little red and orange flowers on it.

It was the nicest dress Ariadne had ever put on. It's sleeves hitting her shoulders like she liked and it made her look more grown up.

"Much better." Trixie said as she pinned Ariadne's lank hair. Expertly styling it.

"We really need to start fixing your hair right." Trixie said. "It's our duty to our men to look good. Remind them what their fighting for."

Ariadne finally left the meet with two dresses and a new coat for winter that she paid half her weekly salary for. The other half, she saved. The nurses around her were always telling her to save half her money no matter what.

"Well at least you have more then one old dress now." Trixie said as the girls walked to the dormitories.

A loud, frighting wail sounded out through the city streets. The girls automatically stopping and looking up.

"Air raid." Ariadne breathed.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

~ Air raid were nothing new. They had frightened Ariadne at first but she soon adapted. Like her nurses training, the Blitz drove the fear right out of her. She would wait in the dark with the other scared nurses and patients. Hearing the bombs grow louder and louder as children panicked and cried.

After the all clear, they would emerge from the shelters to see new destruction. Buildings reduced to a pile of bricks and wood. People sifting through their homes looking for anything that could be saved.

The public shelters were always crowded, smelly and too hot. Ariadne and Trixie didn't wait in the shelters like everyone else. Their training was to announce to those in charge that they were nurses and see what help they could provide. It was engrained into them from the first day of nurses training that they had a responsibility to care for the wounded, no matter what.

There was very little wounded from the air raids these days. The public was too well informed and used to the bombings to cause many casualties. After the horrors of the Blitz, no one had to be told twice to get to the shelters.

The nurse's main worries were the older people having heart problems from the scare the bombing put in everyone. For kids getting hurt by shrapnel they were constantly picking at.

With a mighty jolt, a bomb exploded near the public shelter. People were screaming and Ariadne was thrown off her feet. She had been trying to comfort a small boy who had taken broken glass to the face. The lighting in the dark trench like hole was poor and the air always smelled sour, tight and stuffy.

"Watch it now, Darling. I can't seem to go anywhere without beautiful girls falling all over me." A familiar voice said as strong hand caught her before she hit the ground.

"Eames?" She cried in the darkness.

A match blazed into life and she saw her savior's face appear in the weak light.

"Do I know you?" he asked.  
"I'm Ariadne." She gasped as Trixie picked up the work of removing the glass from the boys face by the weak lamp light.

"Sorry." Eames said as he stepped into the light and she could see him better.

"I'm the girl you got off the beach of Dunkirk." Ariadne said as she couldn't believe her eyes.

Eames looked at her for a long time.

"Well I'll be." He said with a smile.

~ "He's a cute one." Trixie said with a smile. "He rescued you?" She asked.

"Oh yes. I had been walking for days and I hadn't bathed or did my hair. My feet were bleeding and everything. He got me transit papers to come to England. They weren't taking civilians from the Dunkirk evacuation." Ariadne explained and then wished she hadn't.

She had made it a point to not talk about the evacuation. Memories of the family, of Phillip, the students, they were all too close.

"You never told me you evacuated France." Trixie said. "You English is so good."

"I lived in Canada till I was 10. My parents died of the influenza." Ariadne said sadly as the all clear siren let out.

She didn't like to think about coming to France as a child either. Her solitary arrival on that big boat in nothing but her thin, little dress. Holding just the few treasures she had also escaped France with. Perhaps it was her destiny to always wash up on some new shore, alone and with nothing.

"I'm glad your alright. I had worried about you." Eames was saying as he helped them out of the shelter and into the fresh air. He was very handsome and charming and Trixie fawned over him shamelessly.

"I was worried about you to." Ariadne said. "You didn't get into trouble because of me did you?" She asked.

"No, I get into trouble because of _me_." Eames laughed as he made sure the shelter was empty. "Why I'm on air raid duty right now." He explained. "I just happened to find my way to some rationed cigarettes and decided to spread the wealth."

"I'm working at the hospital, with the Red Cross." Ariadne explained.

"Excellent, so when we take back Paris you'll be there." Eames said.

Trixie gave her a look.

"I hope so." Ariadne said, and meant it.

"I see my relief." Eames said as an older man with the ARP walked over to them. "I have to get home. My best girl is cooking tonight and I don't want to miss that."  
"Oh." Trixie said looking heartbroken. "You have a girlfriend."

"Afraid so." Eames said with a wink before he said his goodbyes to the ladies.

He stopped to give Ariadne a hug before leaving them. Trixie handing Ariadne her bag of clothes.

"Rotten luck." Trixie said with a sigh.

Ariadne smiled. She liked Eames, but her heart didn't race like she knew it was supposed to when a girl fell in love. Still, she felt happier at seeing him again. Something from that terrible time that was good.

"Let's go home." She said to Trixie as the pretty American girl watched Eames leave.

_~ America, 1943 ~_

~ Arthur knew his place in this unit right away. He was under the direct command of a Captain Dominic Cobb. An all American officer who was very educated gentleman, but needed someone like Arthur to get the rest of the troops to follow orders.

Arthur had been promoted to Lieutenant right out of Officer's candidate school. He fitted the role of officer perfectly as the enlisted men would look to him to see how to act and what to do.

When they saw Arthur supporting all of Cobb's decisions, backing him up and having confidence in the Captain, the rest of the men under his command felt more comfortable following their leader.

Cobb had been in academia before joining the Army. He had been used to being around well educated, intelligent people all his life. His home was the classroom, not the trenches. It was a rude awakening to find himself with men who hadn't even gone to high school. Many of them could barely read and felt secretly that the Captain was a little too stuck up at times.

By sharp contrast, they responded well to Arthur's cold, no nonsense ethics. The Lieutenant having very little tolerance for their distrust of Cobb and wasn't afraid to let the men know it. The partnership worked remarkably well. Cobb appreciated being around a well read, educated man such as Arthur.

"My wife, Mal." Cobb said one evening as they were finally able to unwind from the day. It had been a strenuous few months as the third Army division was under intense training for something Cobb called 'Overlord'.

They were still stateside and Arthur and the rest of the men wondered when they would ever actually see any battle.

Arthur took the framed picture of an elegant looking woman. A small girl and baby in her arms.  
"My son, James." Cobb nodded at the baby. "He was born just before I left. I haven't seen him since. He would be two years old now."

Arthur nodded but didn't trust himself to say anything. He had gotten a stern letter from his mother that Linda had married some middle aged accountant. He didn't want Cobb to ask him about his social life back home.

"Are you married? Any kids?" Cobb asked. Arthur cringed.

"No. I don't even have a girl back home." Arthur admitted.

All the men here had a sweetheart back home. They kept pictures of pretty girls tucked into bibles, helmets and pocket watches. Arthur wishing he had thought to bring a picture of a girl, any girl. One who he could say was his sweetheart.

He felt so out of step with the rest of the men. They had something to go home to. He had nothing.

"Well, when the war is over." Cobb said in that kind teacher's voice of his. "You'll be a war hero and the girls will line up to be with you."

Arthur had to laugh.

"I doubt that." He said. "My mother wanted me to marry this girl, Linda." He shook his head. "She wasn't my kind of girl." Arthur admitted.

"What is your kind of girl?" Cobb asked. The Captain rolled a cigarette with the Lieutenant as they sat in the officer's barracks. Watching the rain fall over the other buildings.

Arthur sighed. He wasn't even sure she could exist in reality.

"Someone who isn't selfish. Who thinks about others before herself." Arthur said.

"Linda wasn't any of those things?" Cobb asked as he lit his hand rolled cigarette.

Arthur snorted a laugh.

"What is Operation Overlord, Sir?" He asked instead.

"It means were going to London." Cobb said brightly. "Means were going to take back France."


	6. Chapter 6

6.

~ _London 1944_ ~

~ Ariadne had been enjoying a quite night shift when the air raid warning had gone off. She had finally settled down at the nurses station to read "Gone with the Wind". The novel Trixie had been nagging her to read. A worn out hardback that had made the rounds with every nurse in the hospital till it's dust jacket was lost, it's spine bent and it's pages dog eared. All the girls crazy for Rhett, and even crazier for Clark Gable.

Several of the nurses going to see the film at the nickel show more then once. Large movie poster's of him hung over their beds as they debated hotly over Rhett vs. Ashley.

Personally, Ariadne didn't see what all the fuss was about. As far as she was concerned, both men didn't deserve the torment that was Scarlet O'Hara. Ariadne found her selfish, spoiled and narcissistic.

Or at least that was what she told the other nurses. Secretly, she was pleased there was someone else, however fictional, who didn't like volunteering ever free second. Who didn't like tending to the wounded sometimes. Who wanted to only look out for herself. It was wrong to think that, she knew, but she was happier to know her occasional dark thoughts were not unheard of.

The double damned air raid siren went off again.

'_Not going to be much of London left to take if they keep bombing us._' She thought as the slapped the book shut and scurried downstairs to the shelter. She cast a worried look at the bed ridden men in the large recovery ward. They couldn't be moved, and if the bombs hit the hospital, they would be killed.

Men pulled from battle, brought to safety, operated on, only to die at Hitler's hands in the end.

She helped the ambulatory men to the large hospital shelter. Nurses and doctors in night clothes as the sirens wailed and the lights were turned on low or put out all together.

Not even a glimpse of light could be allowed to show from the hospital windows as they prayed the bombers wouldn't hit the building.

Ariadne sat close to a wounded man as he cried that he didn't want to live through this.

"Stop it!" She hissed at him. Her training kicking in. "Your scaring the other men."

The young man held back a sob as they waited in silence. The unmistakable sound of planes coming over head.

From far away, it came.

Boom.

It sounded like a faint crash as a bomb made contact with some poor helpless bit of Earth.

Boom.

Closer now as the people crowded together. The bombing sounding like a giant marching closer and closer.

**Boom.**

Ariadne was holding fast to the hand of the wounded man as another bomb hit closer still.

**BOOM!**

"It's going to hit! You can tell!" A nurse screamed as she tried to bolt out of the shelter. The others holding her back.

**Boom.**

Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief. The bomb struck past them. They had learned the timing of the bombs. Learned by the sounds that you were next or if it would pass you over. The bombing had mercifully neglected the hospital.

Boom.

The giant's footsteps marching away.

Boom.

The nurse crying and saying she wanted her mother.

~ "How did they survive years of this?" Arthur grumbled as the air raid sirens pulled him on his feet and to the shelter

The third army was staying in London until they received orders to move out to France. It was a lot of hurry up and wait until they could join the battle. For now, they were enlisted to help in anyway they could with the war effort.

Waiting in the shelters was agony for him. If he was going to die, he wanted it to be out in the open. Not trapped in a half buried little shelter that wouldn't protect him from anything. It was insufferable and he wondered how the people here had done it for so long. His first night in that hole that was called a shelter almost drove him insane.

"We have a fire!" A man called down toe Arthur and the company.

The Americans were on their feet. Without being told to help put out the fires, and without waiting for the all clear signal.

The locals grumbling that the Americans had no sense or no fear. Perhaps a little of both.

"They may not be very bright, but don't they all look handsome!" One older woman remarked as Arthur saw the last of his men out of the shelter.

The streets were as dark as pitch. The only light was the fire blazing. A large house was burning and Arthur was shouting at his men to ready the fire hoses. They had been trained to put out fires and he was pleased to see them snap to their jobs without being told to.

A cry caught his attention.  
"Help!" Came a woman's scream.

"Sir, they must have been under the stairs and not a regular shelter!" A privet shouted at the Lieutenant.

Arthur didn't think. He raced to the house and threw a brick at the front window.

On nimble legs, he jumped through the broken window and into the house that was burning from the top floor down.

He could hear horrible screams coming from a little door by the stairs. A china cabinet had fallen over and blocked the door. Trapping the people who had taken shelter under the stairs from the bombings.

Arthur looked up as he heard the ceiling groan overhead. Heard his mean shouting for him to come back.

The Lieutenant wadded through the furniture in the parlor to the stairs. He pushed the china cabinet over and pried open the door.

A woman and three young children were under the stairs. Their faces frightened and their eyes wide and red with tears. They no doubt thought they were doomed to die there.

"Lets go!" Arthur shouted at them as they looked at him. Too afraid to move.

The Lieutenant grabbed the smallest child from the woman. Causing her to scream for her baby. Her mother's instincts making her move as the flames had now reached the first floor. Bringing the ceiling down.

The heat was horrible. It's deadly fingers licking at him as he finally made his way to the window.

"Tommy!" The woman screamed at a little boy who had stayed by the stairs. Too frightened to leave a place that was always safe.

"I'll get him!" Arthur shouted as he handed the youngest to one of his men out the window. The woman climbing after it.

Arthur made sure the woman was out before turning back for the boy. The child crying as the flames came closer. He made one step to the child when the ceiling collapsed.

**Ok. So is acting a little odd. It sent me a message that said it took down my stories due to content, but then recanted. Not sure what is going on or if this story will be allowed to be updated. If NOT, do not worry. I will open an account at Adultfanfiction and post my stories there.**


	7. Chapter 7

7.

~ "Thank God for him he was wearing his helmet!" The doctor grumbled as an American soldier was laying on the gurney. Burns blacking the jacket he had been wearing. Glass and debris sticking out as Ariadne helped cut the clothing off him.

Ariadne had helped the doctor on duty with the victims of the recent bombing. The device hitting a home and the subsequent fire burning it down.  
"Tommy!" A woman was crying outside the trauma area as an American officer with blond hair brought in a small boy wrapped in a blanket.

"Nurse." He whispered catching Ariadne as the doctor nodded for her to leave. The American soldier on his table was unconscious, and the doctor could manage for now.

"What happened?" Ariadne asked the Officer with the Captain's bars.  
"A bomb hit his house. My Lieutenant over there went in to save him. Building collapsed on both of them." The Captain said.

Ariadne pulled back the blanket to reveal a little boy, his face red and charred black from the fire. His skin cold and his breath still.

"He's dead." She whispered to the Captain.

She looked up at his blue eyes. He looked sad and haunted. The American Army had just arrived in London and the horrors of the bombing bothered them. The natives of the London had become immune to the daily deaths. But the Americans were not so prepared.

"Can you put him on that table?" She asked him as the Captain didn't seem to know what to do with the child.

He nodded and gently laid the boy's body on the table. He was careful with him. As if the child was only sleeping and he didn't want to wake him.

"My Lieutenant." The Captain asked.

"Were doing all we can." Ariadne assured him. Her training giving her the confidence she had so dearly longed for. The ability to stand tall and not be afraid of anything.

"Nurse!" The Doctor shouted.

She turned and went back into the trauma room. She was shocked to see the wounded soldier was awake now and fighting the Doctor in his confusion of pain and fear.

"Get off me!" The young man shouted. "David! Get out of there! David!"

In shock and pain, he didn't seem to know where he was or what was happening.

"Americans!" The Doctor grumbled as she readied an injection of Opium to calm the young officer. "All they want to do is fight!"

She didn't respond as, with a hard won confidence, she injected the American Lieutenant in the hip with the syringe.

~ The Doctor she was helping had served in the Great War. He liked to talk as he pulled fragments of glass and metal from the young Lieutenant's back. Describing the diseases that ran rampant in the trenches of Belgium.

"I'll kiss the feet of the man who invented Penicillin." He said as the American officer, now much calmer from the drugs, sat on the gurney. His eyes unfocused as his allowed the Doctor to pull free debris from his back.

"Without it, so many more would die in this war." He said as Ariadne looked over the Lieutenant.  
"How are you doing?" She asked the young man. She had helped the doctor remove his clothes to reveal a myriad of wounds to his back. His helmet and Army jacket had protected him from the worst of the house falling on him. It had been a miracle he had survived at all.

"The boy." The officer said numbly as the Doctor removed a large piece of metal from his skin.

It made a loud clink in the kidney dish as the Doctor dropped it.

"He didn't make it." Ariadne said as she circled around to face the Lieutenant.

She saw that he was awake, but heavily disoriented. Calmly sitting on the edge of the gurney as they cleaned his back. His warm brown eyes looked oddly unfocused and sad. Like he could drop off to sleep at any moment. He was only a few years older then she was. His lean body looking abused from the cuts and bruises of the house fire.

"He's dead?" The Lieutenant asked.  
"Yes. I'm very sorry." Ariadne him.

The young man brought his head up with great effort. The drugs making him woozy and his eyes sleepy.  
"Hello." He said when he saw her. His eyes lighting up as if she were a new and wonderful thing. A creature he was not expecting to see.  
"Hello." She said back. A smile coming to her face as he was obviously feeling no pain from the Doctor's steady removal of glass and metal from his back.  
"Where did you come from?" The Lieutenant asked as if he expected her answer to be some far away kingdom by the sea.  
"France." She said meekly. "Before that, Canada."

"You got out before the invasion?" He asked. His voice low and husky. His eyes confused from the drugs.

She, the Lieutenant and the Doctor were the only ones in the trauma room. The Doctor was so engrossed in sewing the patient up, he didn't seem to notice or care about what they were saying.  
"Yes." She said softly as his sedated eyes were looking intently into her own. She had never been made to blush before by one of her patients. Many of the wounded had flirted with her before, but not like this.

This young man was looking over her face like she was a piece of art. She tried to move away from him as her heart beat loudly in her chest.

His large hands suddenly fastened onto her waist. Preventing her from leaving him. His arms pulling her back to stand before him.

"Where's your family?" He asked worriedly. "Were they in Paris?"

"Just outside of Paris." She whispered as he trapped her there. His eyes boring into her. Making her breath come harder.  
"I haven't heard from them since the invasion." She added.  
"I'm sorry." He whispered.

Before she knew what was happening, his lips were on hers. His mouth was gentle and soft as she felt his breath mingle with hers. She didn't try and fight it as the whole thing had taken her by surprise.

She found her own lips were moving with his as he lightly kissed her. His hands holding fast to her hips.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered as she pulled away from him. Her cheeks reddening at what had just happened. The Doctor ignoring the whole exchange as he bandaged the young man's back.  
"What's your name?" The Lieutenant whispered as he pulled her hips closer to him. Bringing her body back to him. Her lips back to his.

"Ariadne." She whispered. Half of her afraid as she felt him kiss her neck as smell her hair.

"You smell good, Ariadne." He said softly into her ear. "Your so beautiful." He added.

She was glad the Doctor was ignoring them. Glad the Lieutenant was speaking in a low voice.

"Shh." She told the young man as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Careful not to touch the wounds littering his back.

The Lieutenant rested his head on her shoulder.

"When the war is over, we can find your family." He said.  
"It's okay." She whispered.

"I'll make it better." He said in her ear. "I'll fix it. I promise."

"I know you will." She said sadly. Part of her actually believing his drug educed promise. The Opium making him very open and honest with these people who were strangers to him.  
"I'll find your family, Ariadne." He whispered as she shushed him. "I promise. I'll help you."

"I know you will, Lieutenant." She said gently.

"Call me Arthur." He said in her ear.

"Arthur." She repeated dutifully.  
"I love you." He whispered to her as his arms wrapped around her waist. Holding her close to him like they were real lovers. His hands so strong on her hips she couldn't pull away and didn't try to.

"I love you to." She told him softly.

~ The American Captain was waiting for the Doctor and Ariadne to tell him his Lieutenant was alright. They had see the young man, Arthur, off to the recovery ward. Ariadne telling him to go to sleep and he did as she told him.

His eyes closing as soon as he laid down. Ariadne covering him securely before an orderly wheeled him away.  
"He's going to be just fine." The Doctor told the American Captain as Ariadne tried to hide the blush from her face.

"Thank God. When will he be out?" The Captain asked. "He's my right hand. I need him."

"A few days. If he's up to it. Well see how he does in the morning. He's a fighter." The Doctor said.

"Yes, he saved that family. All except the boy." The Captain said smoothing his blond hair back.

Ariadne tried not to think of Arthur's hands on her hips. His lips on hers. His heated whispers that made the blush come back to her cheeks.

"Thank you, Doctor." The Captain said.  
"Your most welcome, Captain?" The Doctor asked.

"Cobb. Captain Dominic Cobb." The blond officer said.

~ "Doctor, I would appreciate your discretion on what happened in the treatment room." Ariadne said as she and the older man climbed the stairs up to recovery.

"That poor soldier was drugged and didn't know what he was saying. I was just trying to comfort him. I wasn't looking to seduce or entice him. He's a wounded man and I know that's strictly forbidden." She said wringing her hands.

The last things she needed was a lecture from the Matron of the hospital. A sour, boney woman who had eyes like a hawk and tolerated no flirtatious behaviors on the part of her nurses.

"Why nurse, I don't know what you mean." The Doctor said with a secretive smile. "I just saw a very competent nurse trying to an keep a wild American calm."

Ariadne looked at the Doctor.

"I do intend to tell the Matron that. It will impress her I would think." He said with a wink.

"Doctor." She said nervously.

"Do you think I'm as stuck up as all that?" He said when they reached the recovery ward. "I was in war time before, don't forget. I know what it's like to be a young person."

"I'm not looking for a husband here." She stammered.  
"Why not? Your only young once. You only go around once. Nurse, we almost died tonight. You really want to go to your death without falling in love?" He asked.

She said nothing as the Doctor walked away.

~ In the stillness of the recovery ward, Ariadne checked on her charges. The men were all sleeping peacefully. The orderly, a teenage boy, snoozing in a chair. The ward dark except for dawn's light peeping from the large windows. She spied the American Lieutenant, Arthur, then. He was sleeping peacefully in a clean, white bed.

His breathing long and clear as his eyes batted back and forth under closed lids. He was dreaming.

The memory of him kissing her, made her lips tingle. She looked down at her shoes and hurried back to her station. Trying to look busy, she attempted to read her book again.

Suddenly, the romance of Rhett and Scarlet were not so exciting anymore.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

~ Arthur dreamed of a girl with an impossibly beautiful face. Her eyes were rich and dark. Her lips were full and soft. He dreamed he kissed her and held her close. He dreamed she smelled like soap and they whispered things to each other. In his dream he loved her. Not in a physical way, but in a way that made his chest expand and feel completely happy.

~ He woke up in a hospital. The dream had been so real he had half expected to see the girl waiting for him. Instead, Captain Cobb was sitting in the tiny chair next to him.

"Morning." The Captain said as Arthur blinked at the sunlight streaming into the ward.

"What happened?" the Lieutenant groaned as a headache rolled over his brain.

"A building fell on you." Cobb said with a laugh.

"Oh." Arthur said. He moved his feet and arms. His back hurting slightly as he tried to sit up straighter.

"How do you feel?" Cobb asked him.  
"Terrible." Arthur sighed as he felt dizzy.

"Doctor says you'll live." Cobb told him.

"The boy?" Arthur asked.

"He didn't make it." Cobb told him. "You should know, the Colonel was very impressed with what you did. He's putting you in for a promotion and a purple heart."

"Great." Arthur said in a dead voice. He remembered the little boy in the fire. The child had been too afraid to move. Arthur hadn't reached him in time. He couldn't save him. A medal and a promotion didn't make up for it.

"You need to rest up. I need you back with the unit before the week is out." Cobb told him as the Captain stood to leave.

"Yes, Sir." Arthur said numbly.

He wanted the girl he dreamed about back. He closed his eyes as Cobb left him. His pain medication working, and dropping him back into the land of dreams.

~ Ariadne had slept soundly after her shift ended. She had expected to be back in the recovery ward when her shift started again. But a sudden change in the schedule sent her to laundry where she spent the next 8 hours folding sheets and counting medical supplies. It was mindless work that let her thoughts wander. Her memory retuning to the American officer who kissed her.

After her shift ended, she traditionally went back to the dormitory upstairs. She normally took a hot bath and read, sewed or found something else to do till lights out.

Instead, she stopped at the recovery ward. She wanted to see her solider, Arthur, again. She wanted to see if he was awake. Wanted to see what he was like without the drugs.

The ward nurse waved at her as she walked through the beds of sleeping men. Her eyes searching for Arthur. She was disappointed to see his bed from that morning was empty.

"The American solider," She turned to the ward nurse. "Where is he?

Irrationally, she feared he had died while she was sleeping or in laundry.

"He was discharged an hour ago. You just missed him." The ward nurse said.

"Already?" Ariadne asked. "He was really hurt."

"He was stubborn." The nurse said with a shrug. "I'm glad he's gone. He wouldn't listen to anyone and refused to let anyone help him. Did what he wanted." She grumbled.

Ariadne felt disappointed. Part of her wanted to see him again. The drugs she had given him might mean he wouldn't even remember her.

She turned around and squared her shoulders. Walking back out of the ward with all the confidence and steel she had learned in her profession.

~ Arthur's back hurt. He winced as he dressed himself. He didn't want to admit to Cobb that another night in the hospital would have been a good idea. Yet, he couldn't stay another second in that place. He had been surrounded by seriously wounded soldiers. Some of them burned badly or missing limbs. He knew too well that such a thing might happen to him. That he might be laying in that same hospital bed soon enough. His body broken and useless. Being cared for by that grumpy nurse who said she had to help him go to the bathroom.

He shook his head and focused instead on the meeting.

His wounds would heal, and he didn't want to be left out of the invasion plans.

"Operation Overlord." The Colonel told the officers in front of him. "We will be apart of a large scale operation that will take back the French coast with extreme aggression and force. Our intelligence says that the beach is intrenched with enemy forces. They have the higher ground and we can expect heavy casualties as we retake that part of Hitler's Europe.

Arthur looked over the map of France. A long mess of sweeping red arrows coming over one beach. The American, British, Canadian and French forces would attack from the waters. They would attack a beach called Normandy.

~ The Matron had assembled her most impressive of Red Cross nurses in to the nurse's dinning hall.

"Our fearless troops have decided to take back the French soil that was so barbarically stolen for her rightful people." She said in a voice she clearly meant to inspire her audience, but only sounded condescending and overly dramatic.

"Red Cross doctors and nurses will be needed to assist the many wounded on the terrible battlefield of war." She went on as the nurses watched her performance with little interest.

"The Red Cross is asking for her volunteer nurses to once more, stem the tide of death and bring hope to countless families. That their loved ones, their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers will live and come back home. All thanks to your efforts." The Matron went on in a long winded speech.

"Glad she wasn't on the recruiting campaign." Trixie said and Ariadne almost smiled.

Her thoughts were still on her mysterious Lieutenant. That strange man who had kissed her and made her heart beat faster.

'_Arthur._' She said his name in her head. The only place she could say it.

It occurred to her then, that Arthur might be at the front. He might be one of the wounded. That strange man who had climbed into a burning building to save a child. A man who had kissed her and told her he loved her. Drugged or not, he seemed to mean it.

"So we ask that you step forward and show the evil doers what real courage looks like." The Matron was saying as Ariadne stood up and walked to the sign in sheet on the table.

All eyes were on her as even the Matron was surprised her speech had been so moving.

"Nurse." The matron said once the other nurses had followed Ariadne's example and sighed up to go to the front.  
"Doctor Kikie told me what happened with the American solider from the bombing the other day."

Ariadne froze. Her face burning hot. She had thought the Doctor wouldn't say a word about it. Now she was about to be told off by the boney, harpie like Matron.  
"He did?" Ariadne said nervously.  
"Yes, he said that you were very professional and caring to the solider. That you knew exactly what needed to be done without being told. Most doctors do not like to have a nurse do things without being ordered to, but, Doctor Kikie is different. He has his own way of doing things and we, as nurses, must respect that preference."

"Yes, Matron." Ariadne said dutifully.  
"After speaking with Doctor Kikie and reviewing your records, I have promoted you to Senior triage nurse and you will follow Doctor Kikie to the front. He has requested you personally. Report to the training ward immediately." The Matron said.

"Yes, Matron." Ariadne said in surprise. She hadn't expected a promotion to the more exciting and less grunt work world of triage. Her days of laundry, washing floors and cleaning bed pans were over. She was now a Senior Nurse.

"You must listen to your instructors and study hard. Remember that ignorance is not and excuse." The Matron said smoothing down her apron.

"Yes, Matron. Thank you, Matron." Ariadne said with a curtsey.

"Did I just hear right?" Trixie hissed at her after the Matron left. "Were you just promoted out of crap work hell?

"So it would seem." Ariadne laughed. She couldn't believe after almost four years of paying her dues, she was finally a real nurse. One that would learn to assist in operations and could wear the nurse's emblem on her shoulder and collar. She was now one of those fearless Red Cross nurses she had admired so much from her hospital bed in Dover.

~ Arthur shifted uncomfortably in his new uniform. The stiff fabric hadn't been broken in and it was too tight. It was appropriate that he had a new uniform issued to him to match his new rank as Captain. General Eisenhower himself had shook his hand at an impromptu ceremony that was held to promote a few officers and hand out medals.

"Congratulations, Son." Eisenhower had said shaking Arthur's hand and telling the young man he represented the best of America. A Purple heart pinned to the newly christen Captain.

Arthur felt the shinny, new Captain's bars looked odd on his shoulders.

"Don't worry." A voice said. "You might not wear them for long."

Arthur turned to see Lieutenant Nash. A nervous looking man who would be with his new command for the invasion.

"What makes you say that?" Arthur said coldly. He missed Cobb. He felt like he was another older brother to him was someone he could unload his fears on. Cobb listening to him in that patient and kind way.

But Cobb had been promoted as well. Eisenhower not shaking his hand as the General had to leave mid ceremony. Cobb was now a Major and would be following the infantry to the front as they would attempt to take back the beach.

"The Krauts have the higher ground. It'll be a blood bath." Nash said.

"Lieutenant. You are free to think whatever you want about your orders. You are free to think your going to die, I'm going to die and our men will die. But you will _never_ say that out loud. Not to me, not to the men. To the men you will stand firmly behind the mission and make them believe that we will take back that beach." The Captain said firmly to the new Lieutenant he had been issued.

He didn't care for Nash very much. The Lieutenant was very negative about going to battle. Very afraid that he was going to die. Arthur didn't trust him. Didn't want to have to go into battle with such a cowardly, little man.

"Yes, Sir." Nash sighed in a sleazy voice.

"Sir!" A corporal said coming to the barracks. "You have a telegram."

Arthur paused as a fear gripped him. Formal news of David's death had come in a telegram. Bad news always came in telegrams.

"Your girl home break up with you?" Nash asked as he opened a flask and took a swing. Ignoring the rules about drinking on duty.

"It's from my sister." Arthur said looking over the short sentences Beth had sent him.

The Captain sighed and re-read the telegram again.

"My brother Jacob was shot down over the Pacific." He said soberly. "He's dead."


	9. Chapter 9

9.

~ Arthur's family had a phone in their house and he was able to call them before the fleet would leave for the shores of Normandy.

"It happened over a month ago." Beth said. "We didn't want to tell you till we were sure."

Arthur didn't say anything. Jacob had been more like Arthur then the rest of the family. Like their father, both sons had been quite and reserved. It struck the Captain that he was the only son left.

"How is Dad?" He asked.

"Oh, he's alright." Beth said holding back tears. He could tell by the sound of her voice that she was lying.  
"Mother?" He asked.

"Mother." Beth groaned. "Mother is mother." She said dryly.

Arthur nodded and looked out of the streets of London. He was in a red phone booth that was unique to this area of the world. It had started to rain and he was glad to be in this secluded spot that was sheltered and isolated.  
"Tell me..." Beth said choking back a sob. "Tell me whats happening with you. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Arthur said numbly. "I got a promotion. I'm a Captain now."

"Arthur, that's wonderful!" Beth said. He could tell she was smiling.

"Yeah." He said sadly into the phone. "Shook General Eisenhower's hand and everything."

"Is he important?" Beth asked.

Arthur laughed.

"Beth, I might not be able to call you for awhile. So, I don't want you to worry if you don't hear from me for a few weeks. If I can't call, I'll write."

"Arthur, you have to make it home. Okay?" Beth was saying as his eyes caught the sight of something he didn't think was real.

Out in the rain, he saw her. The girl he dreamed about. He squinted past the glass of the phone booth as she walked past him. Her large brown eyes slipping over him and not seeing him.

She was in a blue dress and was carrying an umbrella to protect her from the summer rain.

'_She was real?_' He thought as the dream raced back to him. Her lips on his and the way her hips felt in his hands.

"Arthur?" Beth came back over the phone. "Are you there?"

The Captain watched as the girl he dreamed about stepped lightly off the curb, and onto a double decker bus. It's panels lined with war propaganda for victory.

"Beth, I have to go. I'll call you back." He said and hung up.

He lunged out of the funny, red phone booth and dove headlong into a gaggle of old women in WVS uniforms.

"Mind yourself, GI!" One of them shouted at him as the ladies giggled.

He found himself chasing the double decker bus his dream girl had stepped on. A real girl, a face he hadn't just imagined.

"Wait!" He shouted as the bus picked up speed and made a turn.

He gave chase, but a car cut him off. Giving him a rude honk and it's driver shouting about him running in the streets with a war on. He ran around the cars only to find the bus, the girl, was gone.

~ Ariadne smoothed out her new uniform. Her promotion to senior nurse meant she now wore a dark gray and not pale gray or blue. The fabric was heavily starched and it was as crisp as paper.

She felt the butterflies in her stomach go off as she tried to pin her nurses cap on her head. Her graduation pin on her collar signifying she was a true Red Cross nurse and ready for anything. The Matron congratulating her for being the top of her class.

"I was also top of my class, Nurse." She told her. "Perhaps one day you will follow in my footsteps."

"Hopefully, Matron." Ariadne said meekly. The last thing in the world she wanted was to be like the Matron.

~ "You look _gorgeous_." Trixie said sarcastically as Ariadne re-pinned her hat.

"You look gorgeous, _Nurse_." Ariadne corrected her. Trixie and another girl in their dormitory saluted her before bursting into giggles.

Ariadne felt different. Her back hurt from standing up so strait all the time these days.

"We are proud of you." Trixie said as she fished a package from under her pillow.

"What's this?" Ariadne asked as Trixie handed her the brown paper package.

"Something the girls and I made you." Trixie said innocently.

Ariadne looked at them in surprise. She hadn't received a birthday present in years. Not even from the Family back in France. She wasn't used to gifts for any reason.

"Not everyday a girl graduates top of her nursing class and goes to the front."

"Trixie." Ariadne said as her fingers grazed over the wrapping tied with red string.

"Open it!" Trixie demanded.

Ariadne couldn't fight the grin on her face as she carefully unfolded the package. Inside was a small, handmade pillow. Her name was thickly stitched at it's center in large, colorful, block letters. The girls she worked with had all lovingly stitched their own names into the pillow surrounding her name. Making her's not look so lonely.

Ariadne felt her eyes well with tears as she looked at each name. A task that took weeks if not more. The girls all secretly working on this project on their precious off time.

"Turn it over." Trixie prompted as suddenly, she didn't want to leave for the front. Suddenly realizing she _did_ have friends here. There were people who cared for her.

She looked at the back. Stitched in the same big block letters as her name was:

_When you see this, think of us. _

_ London, 1944_

She cried then as Trixie laughed at her.  
"It's a pillow, and small. I checked, they will let you take it with you to the front. It was hard to think of a gift you could bring. They won't let you take much with you." She said.  
"Thank you." Ariadne cried softly.

"There's even a little pocket I hid in the side for your valuables." Trixie said as she showed her a cleverly hidden opening at the side. A button sewn into the inner wall of the pillow.

Ariadne never felt so happy.

~ Arthur tried to calm his shaking hands. He had thrown up outside the hastily constructed barrack. As the events of the day finally caught up to him. The Allies had aggressively taken back the beach, but it had cost them dearly.

Arthur had seen men shot dead before him. Seen their bodies blown up in the mud and then washed back out with the surf. The deaths were so random and it could have just as easily have been him that was killed, and not the poor soul at his side.

Nash was killed. The coward had hidden behind the shore brakes as other men took fire from the Nazi gun men. An angry British Lieutenant had pulled him out of his hiding place and had pushed him back into the line of advancement where he was cut down instantly.

"My mum, always thinks a cup of tea will cure anything." The British Lieutenant said handing Arthur a cup.

Arthur sighed and didn't want it.

"Don't worry, I put sugar in it." The Lieutenant said showing him a small flask. Arthur had to smile at seeing that.

The British Lieutenant, Eames, had stayed close to Arthur after Nash was blown up. The two of them taking out a bunker that was shooting up the beach. Turning the sand red with the blood of farm boys who had no clue what they were walking into. Most of their unit had been killed and they left what few comrades they had left to try and take out the cement bunker. As their men provided cover fire, he and Eames snaked around to a more sheltered area of the beach.

They saw the two Nazis peeping out at the invasion as he and Eames hid behind rocks. Arthur took his rifel and, thinking back to his days of hunting with his father, shot the gunnery men in the head. He had never killed anyone before. Never taken the life of someone who had a mother and a name. Who had family who would miss them and depended on them.

Suddenly, in the heat of battle, he didn't care. He hated the enemy. Not because of their invasion of France and the horrible rumors of what they were doing. He hated them for the young men he was seeing blown to bits right before his eyes.

~"You know I was at Dunkirk in June of '40? I was there for the evacuation." Eames said as the men sat on ammo boxes and drank their tea. They could see Red Cross boats coming in to help the wounded.

"Really?" Arthur said as Eames handed him a cigarette.

"Yeah. It was a mess. Not as bad as all this though." He said pleasantly. As if Normandy beach had just been rained out and not a horrific title wave of human death.

"Starting to think I need to stay away from beaches." Eames told him with a smile.

Arthur wasn't amused. He still had blood on his hands from where he tried to help a medic hold together a young man's body.

He felt there was no way they could win this war. They had taken back the beach, but the cost had been too high. The loss of young lives had been the price to take back this piece of land. The Enemy was too well intrenched in the country and their would be more lives lost.

"This was just one day." Eames was saying. "This was a bad day. Tomorrow will be better."

Arthur shook his head as he felt the liquor seeping into his blood. Warming him.

"Don't be such a stick in the mud." Eames said. "We'll put Hitler on the ropes yet."

~ Ariadne's hands were shaking. She had assisted in trauma before, but never like this. Never in a bunker that just a few hours ago, had been the hide out for Nazi artillery fire.

From this cemented stronghold, the enemy would shoot at the helpless boys on the beach. A group of boys who now were sheltered as Doctor Kikie worked to stem the tide of blood loss.

Ariadne had been proud of herself. She had met the doctor's needs at every angle. In her training, she had worked closely with Doctor Kikie for 18 hours a day.

The older man telling his staff of only 5 nurses what to expect, and what he expected them to do. He didn't lie to them about anything. Telling them that while it was true they would be following the front line as it pushed the Nazis back, there was a real possibility of being shot. Or worse, captured and all the terrible things that could happen to a woman who had been captured.

The more worried girls had carried a hypodermic needle filled with morphine hidden in their pulled up hair style. If they were captured, they meant to take the easy way out.

After almost 20 hours of helping Doctor Kikie, of watching young men bleed to death on the beach. She was released from duty. There was still work to be done, but they needed a break. Red Cross reinforcements had arrived and had taken over the bunker. Started pulling back the bodies of the dead from the beach and the ocean.

She was still shaking as she washed her apron in the little metal tub the other nurses had used for laundry. No time for a proper wash of uniform and body. It was scrub your apron as clean as you can, wash your hands and face, eat your dinner, go to bed in your clothes, and hope a bomb doesn't hit you while you sleep. In a six more hours you have to do it all over again.

'_It wasn't worth it._' Ariadne decided as she curled her exhausted body onto her cot. She could hear another nurse cry herself to sleep.

'_Nothing was worth all of that death._'


	10. Chapter 10

10.

~ Arthur had to wonder why the Nazi forces were retreating so quickly. Every village the invasion force seemed to enter, the Nazis had just left. Some of them just a few hours before the Americans or British troops rolled in.

The France he saw as a boy was not the one he remembered. War had ravished this lovely country leaving building into rubble. Beyond all hope of rebuilding.

Some churches, he remembered, were a least 800 years old. Things no man had any right to destroy, were carelessly burned and treated with such disrespect, that Arthur hated the enemy even more.

From the buildings that still stood, people looked at the sight of the healthy, fearless looking Americans. They had and lived for 4 years of Nazi occupation and knew better then to resist. Instead, they hung white flags out of windows and prayed they would be left alone.

It was a sober thing to see the haunted looks of people as they drove past. Some of them happy to see their liberators, most too worn down by war to care.

Arthur rode with his new Lieutenant, a happy go luck man named Dax as their Jeep drove recklessly through the muddy roads. He looked over the windows with white bed sheets hanging out.  
"What does it mean, Sir?" Dax asked him.  
"It means they surrender." Arthur said sadly as a little girl with dark hair looked at the passing convoy with large, scared eyes.  
"Were here to help them." Dax said obviously confused.

"I'm sure the Nazis said the same thing." Arthur commented dryly.

~ The Red Cross followed the advancement a few days later. Ariadne much preferred this part of her work then picking up the broken and bleeding. All around her were children. Wanting to touch her uniform, smell her hair and stay close to her as she helped to exam the young ones for signs of illness. Malnutrition was the most common problem. Many of them so hungry that their teeth were rotting.

The little boys and girls would look up at her with big eyes as she brought them food and told them in French that everything was alright now.

The children and adults happily told her all about the occupation. About how the Nazis forbid them from even hunting in the forest and how food had run out. How they had lost family, not not bullets, but from starvation.

"The American's are here." A dark haired little girl with big eyes chirped up at her. "They are so handsome and strong." She told the Senior Nurse.

"Yes." Ariadne said remembering how a house had fallen on her mysterious Lieutenant. "Yes they are."

~ "There are rumors of a compound." Cobb said to the convoy that had stopped at a village just a few miles away from Paris.  
"Compound?" Dax asked. Arthur ignored him. He liked Dax enough, but the young Lieutenant was too green. Too happy to be in the war.

"Prisoners?" Arthur asked.

Major Cobb nodded.

"Some of them are our own, but most of them were captured before they could be evacuated from Dunkirk." The Major said.

Eames stood up and suddenly looked interested.

"My boys." He said soberly.

"We think so, yes." Cobb said.  
"How creditable is you intelligence?" Arthur asked the Major. Cobb nodded to a thin looking man in rotted clothing. A local.

"He was responsible for bringing in food for the prisoners." Cobb said. "Were still waiting for orders to check out the possible existence of a compound.  
"Sir." Arthur said bringing Cobb's attention to him. "With all due respect, by the time those orders go through, those men will be dead. They waited years now, they should have to wait one more day."

"Right." Eames said looking over the map. The idea of his fellow comrades being held in a camp made him look reckless and angry.  
"We can do recon." Dax suggested helpfully.

Cobb looked at Arthur. The old friends knowing exactly what the other was thinking.

"Alright." Cobb said softly. "Arthur, you take Eames and Dax with you. Keep your party small. Less then 20 men."

"Thank you , Sir." Arthur said almost flying out the door.

It was an easy matter to find volunteers willing to join the recon. Arthur planned to not only find out if the compound was there, but he planed to free the men trapped there. If his superiors came down hard on him for it, that was fine. It was war time and they knew he was too valuable an officer to do much more then yell at.

The small band of 20 men went on foot through the dense forest. Not taking the worn jeep trail that was no doubt used by the Nazis.

It wasn't a compound at all. It was little more then hastily constructed barracks with barbed wire fence and razor wire on the tops. There were guard towers at every end and as Arthur and his men crouched in the mud, they could see the guard house was alive with activity.

"What are they doing?" Dax asked as Arthur spied on the guard house with binoculars.

"Their burning documents. They must know were coming." Arthur said.

"We have to move." Eames said readied his weapon.  
Arthur put his hand over Eames' rifle.

"We don't want to lose the initiative." He whispered. "Right now, we have the element of surprise. We need to take out the guard towers before the raise any alarms."

"Right." Eames said. "The Lieutenant still looking ready for a fight."

"Why is he so crazy?" Dax asked as Eames left to tell the other men what was happening.

"He was at the Dunkirk evacuation." Arthur said looking back over the guard towers.

"Bull shit!" Dax laughed.

Arthur turned to his new Lieutenant.  
"Why don't you ask him about it?" Arthur challanged.

Dax still smiled.

"What to we do sir?" He asked.

"We take out the guard towers. Take them all out at the same time and storm the guard house." Arthur said.

"Sand bag them?" Dax laughed.  
"Primative, but I think it will work." Arthur said.

There was a skinny little privet in their company. No one knew how he had survived basic training, but he dug a hole under one of the towers quickly and scurried under it.  
"Like a damn rat." Dax laughed as the unit watched the skinny privet set charges under one guard tower, scurry out from his hole, dig a new one under a new tower and do the same thing. It took the better part of an hour before the small privet, now the hero of the unit scurried back to them.

"Here, Sir." The small privet said handing his Captain the detonator.

"I won't hear of it." Arthur said with a laugh as the Privet looked pleased with himself. Covered in dirt and a happy smile on his face.

The men were all holding back laughter as the skinny Privet detonated the bombs.

With a loud bang, the towers fell. Angry guards fled from the guard houses as Arthur and his men lead a decisive strike from their hiding places.

It was remarkable that with only twenty men, they were able to secure over forty guards.

"Sir, the barracks!" Dax shouted as Eames had made for his captured comrades right after shooting the guards dead.

Arthur watched as human shells walked out of the barracks and into the floodlights, from the fallen towers.

"There are more in there that can't move." Dax was saying. "How are we going to get them out?"  
"Don't worry about that." Arthur said.

The Captain knew that when the bombs blew, it would alert Cobb. Sure enough, the Major was quick to roll in with jeeps and trucks all filled with men ready to fight.  
"What happened to recon?" Cobb asked playfully.

~ "Completely unacceptable!" A gruff Colonel shouted at Arthur.

The Captain stood at attention as the highest ranking officer, Colonel Nathaniel Burch, walked around him. Appraising an officer who had so brazenly stormed a Nazi compound without orders.

"You were ordered to verify the possibility of of a P.O.W camp and report back to your superiors. _Not_ to lead a charge and blow the damn thing up. You actions probably alerted half of Europe as to our current location, not to mention the fact that we are not prepared to handle the wounded men you brought out." He said.

Suddenly, Arthur felt all his actions were less heroic and more foolish.

"Sir, permission to speak." Arthur said solemnly.

"Denied." the gruff Colonel barked at the Captain.  
"The only reason you are not in the brig is because of an outstanding recommendation from our excellent leader, General Dwight Eisenhower. That and you managed to prevent the guards from destroying critical information on the German's retreat." The gruff Colonel spoke very quickly as Arthur tried to keep up.

"Now, if this information is accurate, and we think it is, we will need to move out if we are going to cut the retreating army off. We may take Paris ahead of schedule." The gruff Colonel said.

"As for you, I'm made to understand that you understand German and French. A lot of the messages here need translation." He told Arthur.  
"Have a lovely night." The Colonel said leaving the Captain with a stack of paper work to translate.

~ Ariadne was shocked as the Red Cross trucks reached a small village. Half of the army was still there and a skinny privet told them the bad news.

Over 500 men had just been freed from a camp and were waiting for aide from the Red Cross. About 300 of them were spread out on the floor of a bombed out chapel with no roof.

All of them too sick to do more then wait to die.  
"We are not set up for this level of triage!" Doctor Kikie barked at the skinny Privet. Ariadne was taking vitals. So many of the men were near death. Their skin waxy and pale. They were barely breathing and some were coughing up blood and had bloody stool.

"Tuberculosis and Typhoid." Ariadne said covering her face with a mask.

"Start pushing fluids on the Typhoid." The Doctor ordered as Ariadne prepared a mixture of salt and sugar that would help stop the diarrhea.

"What kind of idiot lets all these men out of a P.O.W. Camp with no support to care for them?" Doctor Kikie barked as his meager medical staff told the worst of their patients to drink the salt and sugar compound.

"Some of them would have died if they had waited another day." Ariadne told the Doctor a few hours later. After the bedding were changed and washed. After the bloody stool had eased. The village woman helped her and the other nurses care for the men.

They brought their meager foods out and helped to nurse the dieing back to life.

"I heard from that skinny privet that our boys will be taking back Paris in a few days." The Doctor said. He was exhausted and resting outside as the nurse hung sheets out to dry.

"That's good. We can take these men there." Ariadne said.

"Who knows what they'll find in Paris." The Doctor said.


	11. Chapter 11

11.

~ Things happened very quickly for Arthur after the liberation of the P.O.W camp. Within days, the 3rd marched into Paris with almost no resistance. They had found through intelligence reports at the guard house, where the enemy would be and were able to cut off their retreat.

Arthur was amazed at how efficiently the Army moved to intersect the Nazi retreat and he was pleased to hear several key leaders of the 3rd rich had been captured or killed.

"I guess Colonel Burch isn't going to drum you out of the army." Dax said as the read over the latest news of the allies advancement.

Arthur tried not to smile.  
Major Cobb had told him yesterday that Colonel Burch had recommended him for a promotion and the distinguished service cross.

~ Ariadne hadn't remembered Paris like this before the war. It looked so odd. So strangely drained of color and hope. The people seemed worn down and sad even as the Red Cross trucks rolled down the streets.

American and British forces were already there. Soldiers were everywhere as they secured a hospital. The local nurses looking at Ariadne to tell them what to do. She was the only senior nurse there and she felt funny about giving orders. Surprised that the nurses there did as they were told without question.

She held herself a little taller as the junior nurses looked to her to see how to act.

The Red Cross trucks brought medical supplies, food and wounded with them. Soon, the large wards of the Paris hospital were filled with the P. that had been freed a few days before.

A few had died in those days, but Doctor Kikie was pleased so many had lived.

"It was that Captain, Nurse." One man said as she encouraged him to drink more of the water mixed with salt and sugar.

"That Captain?" She asked. She and the Red Cross trucks had been following the Army, and for days she had heard of nothing but whispers of a Captain.

"Yes, he and his men got us out." The man said. His health returning to him everyday.  
"Well, lucky for you he did." Ariadne said softly.

~ Arthur didn't recognize anything about the Paris he remembered. The city had lost it's grandeur from four years of occupation.

Now, her streets were busy with tanks and jeeps. Children chasing the tanks and shouting. Woman too happy to see the American soldiers. More then once in the past hour, Arthur had to fight off the cat like advancement of some of the local girls. Young women who wanted to take him to some secluded place and do dirty things to him.

"No, thank you." he said prying off the love starved women as he tried to walk back to his barracks.

His mind going back to that girl in the blue dress. The way she stepped onto the city bus and vanished before he could catch her.

He had left her back in London. He hadn't even spoke to her or found out her name.

~ "Ariadne?" Came a familiar voice.

Ariadne had been attempting to find out about mail service in Paris when Eames surprised her.

"Eames!" She almost cried out in joy. The handsome British officer pulled her into a hug as the post master glared at them for taking up his time.

"I didn't know you were in Paris." Eames said to his old friend.  
"I didn't know you were." She said repining her nurses hat.

"They couldn't keep me away." Eames said with a laugh. The Lieutenant looked her over and frowned.

"You look like a Matron." He said at last.

"I do not!" Ariadne said in a shocked voice. Matrons were old maids who badgered junior and senior nurses all day.

"Yes, you do." Eames laughed.

"Matron's wear black!" She said defensively. She showed him her dark gray dress.

Eames didn't look like he understood the difference.  
"I got a promotion. I'm a Senior Nurse now." She told him proudly showing him her pin and arm badge.

"Excellent. I didn't even know that was a thing." He said.

She laughed as they left the post office and walked down the street.

"Eames, I never got a chance to tell you, thank you. For getting me off that beach. You didn't have to." She said looking as her feet and not at the Lieutenant.

"Yes, I did." Eames said. "I saw you sitting there. Your feet bleeding. You looked so worn down. Like you had just given up."

"I had. I thought for a moment I had died and was in some kind of Limbo." She admitted sadly.

"You werern't the only one." Eames said.

Suddenly the Lieutenant's face brightened.  
"Hey, come with me!" He said pulling her with him.

"Where are we going?" She asked as he started to run.  
"An American I met after Normandy, he didn't believe me when I told him I was at Dunkirk!" He said as they ran to a busy street.

Ariadne pulled Eames to a stop. American soldiers were spilling out of the small pub. All of them looked drunk and dangerous. Cheap looking women were hanging onto the soldiers and laughing as they to looked inebriated.

"Eames, I can't go in there." She hissed at him. She remembered all too well her training and feared what would be thought if she went about men like this.  
"Don't worry." Eames said pulling her with him.

Like facing the lion's den, Ariadne stayed close to the Lieutenant. She didn't like being around men who drank. Their rough manners became much worse when they were like this.

She pulled her back a little straighter as she followed Eames up the steps.  
"Cheer up doll face!" A loud soldier shouted. "We got Hitler on the ropes!"

With a loud and painful swat, he struck Ariadne on the butt. It hurt, but not as much as her pride with the other drunken men started laughing and cheering.

She barely registered Eames attacking the soldier as the pub became a firestorm of men shouting with unrestrained joy.

Eames had the soldier who hit her on the floor and was punching him soundly in the face.

Suddenly, Ariadne realize her only exit was blocked by a group of rowdy, drunken men. Her friend Eames fighting one of them, and winning.

"Stand down!" Came a harsh and deep voice from the back.

Ariadne jumped and almost fell over a chair as the pub fell quite and still. All the men turned to see a man emerging from the back area of the pub. He was an Army officer and in his dress uniform. Shinny Captain's bars sat on his shoulders as his footsteps were the only sound that was heard in the pub.

Ariadne almost gasped at him. She would know him anywhere.

_'Arthur._'

She wanted to call to him, but what to say? Her voice froze in her throat as she sank back in the shadows of the pub. All the men looking to Arthur, a Captain now, to see what he would do next.

"Lieutenant, please let the Corporal up." Arthur said casually.

Eames shrugged in that indifferent way of his and allowed the now bloodied Corporal to stand.

"What happened?" Arthur asked Eames.  
"Well, I brought a lady friend of mine in here and he thought he would play at hitting her on the bum." Eames explained as he fixed his uniform. Not a scratch on the Lieutenant from the fight.

Arthur looked at one of the lose women at the bar. All of them smiling at the handsome and composed Captain.

"Corporal, apologize to the lady." Arthur said.

"Yes, Captain." The bloodied Corporal said.

Ariadne wished the Corporal had just ignored her. Instead, the young soldier made a bee line for her and as she cowardly stepped away.

She didn't want Arthur to see her. Remember her or know that she was even here. What was he doing in Paris? Was he apart of the Allied advancement?

"I'm very sorry Ma'am." The Corporal said sincerely. "That's not how I normally act or what my Captain expects of me."

Ariadne shook slightly as all eyes were on her. The cheap women at the bar laughing at her.

"It's alright." She said meekly.

The Corporal nodded and stepped away. She had hoped that would be the end of it. That she could flee the pub and go back to the hospital.

She made the mistake of looking towards Arthur. Her strange soldier from that night so many months ago now. He was looking at her as if he had seen a ghost.


	12. Chapter 12

12.

~ '_Breath_' Arthur told himself as his chest felt tight and his head suddenly hurt. The girl from the bus, the girl he had thought was just a dream, she was here. She was real and standing before him. Her nurse's uniform sticking out sharply in contrast to the cheap, garish dresses of the women at the bar.

"Arthur." Eames said taking the girl's hand and pulling her to him.

Arthur stood his ground as she came to him. He remembered every detail of her face perfectly. Her lips and eyes, even her hair. He hadn't dreamed her or imagined her at all.

"Ariadne, this is my friend Captain Art-" Eames started to introduce them.

"Arthur." The Captain interrupted the Lieutenant and extended his hand to her. "I'm Arthur."

He felt his voice was all wrong. His voice, so normally well practiced and self assured, felt oddly strange and childish.

She must have thought so to because she looked away and didn't shake his hand. Embarrassed to look at him for some reason.

"Where's Dax?" Eames asked. "Little bugger says I wasn't at Dunkirk."

Arthur couldn't take his eyes off her as he was afraid he might blink, and she would vanish again.

"In the back." Arthur said as he tried to catch her eyes. Tried to get those eyes of hers to look at him.

She kept her gaze averted. Looking at anything but him as Eames pulled her into the Officer's section of the pub.

The talking in the restricted section of the pub stopped when Eames came in with this beauty. All eyes were on her as she shyly stayed close to the Lieutenant. Arthur following behind as they returned to the table he, Cobb and Dax had been sitting at.

~ Ariadne felt increasingly nervous as Eames pulled her to a dinning area of the pub. She could feel eyes on her as finally they reached a table where two men sitting. One a Major and the other a Lieutenant.

She recognized the Major right away. He had been the man who brought the burned boy to her that night of the bombing. The one who laid the child down so gently on that table, it had broken her heart because the boy was already dead.

"Ariadne." Eames said presenting her proudly. "This is Major Dominic Cobb and Lieutenant Dax." Eames said pointing over the blond man who brought the boy into the hospital and a stranger she had never seen before.

She suddenly felt Arthur was behind her. The Captain pulling a chair out from another table and sliding it behind her so she could sit.

"Now." Eames was saying as Arthur nodded for her to sit down at their table. The Captain taking his own seat next to her.  
"Would you please tell Dax here that I was at Dunkirk? That I was on the beach, and all that." Eames said. A smug little smile on his face.

"He was at Dunkirk." Ariadne said tonelessly. Wishing she could stand up and leave. Arthur was looking at her intently and she felt heat rise up in her cheeks. The memory of his lips taking hers as Doctor Kikie pulled shrapnel from his back.

'_Did he remember?_' She thought as she tried to avoid eye contact.

"You were at Dunkirk?" Dax asked her skeptically. "What the hell were you doing there?"

"Evacuating." Ariadne said simply.

She decided right then and there that she didn't care for this Dax person. He was too loud, too full of life and it was offensive. He wasn't respectful to the suffering that people around him had gone through.

She never spoke of the evacuation. Never told anyone about that beach and her feet bleeding. Not even Trixie knew the horrible details of it.  
"Evacuating?" Arthur echoed back at her. The Captain looking worriedly at her. "You evacuated from Dunkirk? Were you in Paris when the Gestapo invaded?"

"No. My Uncle's family had a house just outside of the city. We tried to evacuate before the Nazis came." She said looking at her hands folded neatly in her lap. It felt so wrong to talk about it. So wrong to think about it.

"Did they make it out?" Arthur asked.

She turned to look at him as suddenly, they were back in the triage room. The pub fading away as they were the only tow people there. His eyes were the same as they were the first time they spoke. So concerned, so saddened by a stranger's misfortune.  
"No, I was the only one to get to out." She said at last.

"I'm sorry." Arthur said. His voice low as their conversation excluded the others at the table.

"Have you been able to contact them? He asked.

She shook her head.  
"I sent letters, but they always came right back. I was at the post office trying to mail something to them when Eames found me." She said.

"How did you get out?" Arthur asked. "I heard the Nazis were very efficient about not letting citizens evacuate."

"I rode my bike, caught a train." She explained feeling herself start to shake. She didn't like Arthur's eyes looking over her like this. Taking in every detail of her face. "I walked the last few days until I reached the beach."

"You walked for a few _days_?" Arthur asked in disbelief.

She nodded as if it were nothing.

"Lieutenant Eames found me there and helped me to get on a transport." She said looking at the Lieutenant. He was ignoring the rest of the group and was halfway finished with his pint. Not careing that he was a hero.

"Eames?" Arthur asked doubtfully.

Ariadne laughed as the British Lieutenant seemed an odd rescuer.

"Yes. He carried me into the water and everything." She said looking at the Lieutenant with a fondness she would have felt to an older, mischievous brother. If she had one.

"Had to. Poor thing's feet were bleeding." Eames said after a loud burp. Arthur pulled away from her slightly. His face looking hard and angry.

"You got her out of France before the Germans got her?" Dax asked in shock. Eames shrugged. "Your a hero?" Dax asked.

Major Cobb looked impressed as Dax bought Eames another round and the table ignored Ariadne. All except Arthur.

"I'm sorry about your family." He said as Eames and Dax engaged in some good old fashioned trash talk.

She shrugged. Pretending to not care.  
"What happened when you arrived in Britain?" He asked.

"After my feet healed, I joined the war effort. They trained me as a nurse. I worked my way up to Senior Nurse." She explained.

She looked worriedly at Major Cobb. If he recognized her as the nurse form that horrible night, he didn't let it show. She wondered how much Arthur remembered.

"Do you have any other family?" Arthur asked. "Your English is so good, I thought you were an American."

"I'm from Canada." She explained. She was very uncomfortable talking about her family with Arthur. She never spoke of her past to people. The world was in such turmoil it was like people lived without a past. Without a history.

"Why did you come to France?" He asked.

"Can we _not_ talk about my family?" She asked instead. An anger passing over her at all his questions.

~ Arthur sat back. He felt so stupid. So intrusive. It was wrong to ask this girl so many personal questions about her past.

The things she had to endure from the evacuations alone must have been horrible.

"I'm sorry." He said shamefully. "It's just, I never expected to meet someone as young as you who's gone through what you have." He tried to explain.

"Well, I'm fine." She said standing up. Arthur stood with her as Eames looked at them.

"Leaving?" He asked.  
"Yes, I have a shift starting soon." She said lamely.

"Alright, Darling." Eames said with a shrug as Dax waved her goodbye.

She noticed Arthur was silently following her out of the pub. She felt the soldiers around them grow quite as the Captain walked past, escorting her outside. The men respectful to the man who obviously commanded them well.

Once outside, Arthur put his hat on and looked at his hands.

"I need you to be careful when you go out in the city. Don't let our men fool you." He said. "The streets are still not safe for a nice lady like you alone. I think I should walk you back to your hospital."

She wanted to tell him that she would be fine. She had been on the front lines for weeks now and didn't need an escort. But she couldn't. She wanted him to walk next to her as the afternoon died away into evening.


	13. Chapter 13

13.

~ "I'm sorry for all my questions." He said as the cool air of evening felt good on her face. "I'm not exactly used to talking to women anymore."

"No, it's alright." She said. Relived to be out of that crowded pub and away from the overly masculine environment. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."

They walked for a long time as more Army jeeps roared past them. The Paris she remembered from just a few years ago had changed so radically, she hardly recognized it.

"How long have you been in the Army?" She asked casually. That was a safe question. A perfectly normal question someone should ask.

"I joined up after Pearl." Arthur said. His voice was sad as he didn't look at her for once.  
"Oh, did you know people at Pearl Harbor?" She asked sympathetically.

"My brother David." He said. His voice attempting to sound easy going and indifferent. "He was on the Arizona when it was hit."

"I'm so sorry." Ariadne said. She didn't need him to tell her that his brother had died in the waters during the attack. His voice was enough of a confirmation.  
"It was harder on my parents then anyone else." He said trying to smile. "David was the golden boy."

"My cousin Phillip was the same way." Ariadne said comfortingly. "He and I were trying to get out before the invasion. He went back for his parents after a few days of traveling."

"He left you?" Arthur asked. His face angry and pulling into a scowl.  
"Oh I was alright." Ariadne said brightly. Seeing he was upset. "We had met up with some students. I traveled with them."

Arthur said nothing as they walked. She noticed the girls they passed were opening gawking at the handsome Army officer.

She steeled her spine and kept her head high as they walked past those girls. All of them looking at her, no doubt wondering what the such a dashing Captain was doing with someone like her.

"Do you have any other family members in the service?" She asked.

"My other brother Jacob." He said painfully. She looked at him as he shrugged. "He was shot down over the sea of Japan. I found out just before we shipped out for Normandy."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." She said lamely. She now felt like she was the intrusive one.  
"It's alright. We've all lost people in this war." He said. "My sister, Beth, is at home with our parents."

"It's good that your mother has her at least." She told him.  
Arthur laughed at some privet joke she didn't understand.

"So, tell me, what will you do after the war is over?" He asked.  
"Assuming we win?" She asked playfully.  
"Well, of course were going to win." He teased. She saw a rare smile was on his face. Making his eyes crinkle. He looked so much nicer when he smiled.  
"Well, I don't really know. It's been so long with this war. It's hard to think of life being any other way." She said.

"It can be." He told her. "There will come a time when this war will be just a memory. Just something found in history books."

"That will be a good day." She sighed.

~ Too soon, they had reached the hospital. Her shift was starting and she didn't want to leave Arthur. She wanted to keep walking with him all the way to Dunkirk.

"This is my hospital." She said looking over the beautiful building that in no way resembled a working medical center.

"Well... I guess I'll let you go." Arthur said putting his hands in his pocket. His feet rooted to the ground again as neither one of them moved away.

"Yeah." She said as she didn't climb the steps to the hospital. She was going to be late for her shift, and she didn't care. She didn't want to go to work, she wanted to stay with him.

"Ariadne." He said suddenly as she finally turned to leave.

She spun around. Her heart swelling at the prospect of staying with him a little while longer.  
"Can I... can I call on you tomorrow?" He asked her shyly. His hands coming out of his pockets and he looked as nervous as a school boy.  
She wanted to shout; '_Yes!_' and fly into his arms. Wanted to feel his lips on hers again. His hands on her hips. Wanted his eyes to lock with hers as he told her he loved her.

"Alright." Was all she said instead as they stood apart. "I'll be off duty at four."

Her voice was so different all the sudden. It had a youthful thread in it she hadn't heard since before the evacuation.

"Good." Arthur said looking relived. "I'll just... I'll just meet you here then." He said readjusting his hat.

She lingered on the steps of the hospital. Her feet not wanting to move.  
"That will be fine." She said. Feeling foolish.

Finally, he looked embarrassed and gave her a little bow. Her handsome Captain leaving her.

~ "Who was that officer you were with?" Came a familiar voice Ariadne hadn't expected to hear again.

She had just walked into the hospital when she saw Trixie jump out of the hallway.

"Trixie!" Ariadne almost shouted as the pretty blond nurse was bouncing in her toes and hugging her.

~ Their shift passed too slow. The girls stealing whispers between checking patients as Doctor Kikie gave his Senior Nurse a scowl. Ariadne felt like a school girl again. A handsome young man had walked her home and she was reunited with her best friend.

~ "So, tell me about your boyfriend." Trixie teased as, finally, they were released from duty.  
"He's not my boyfriend." Ariadne said rolling her eyes. He just saw me home because the streets are not safe."

"So romantic." Trixie said with a little grin. "In the years I have known you, I never saw you keep any company with a G.I. It's nice to see you might not become an ice queen like the Matron."

"We're hardly getting married." Ariadne blushed. A grin spreading on her face as she pictured herself in a white dress. Arthur at her side.

"Here." Trixie said handing her a neatly folded newspaper.

"What's this?" Ariadne asked as they reached their dormitory.

"Your _not_ boyfriend." Trixie said with a secretive smile. "My French is terrible, but I think I got the jest of it."

Ariadne looked curiously back at her friend as the blond girl vanished into the Junior Nurse's dorms.

As a Senior Nurse, She had her own bedroom. It was small, but it had a nice little window and she was afforded all the privacy she could want.

It was past the time for lights out and she dared not light a lamp. It would set a bad example for the other girls if she broke the rules. The moonlight streamed into her bed from the window as she read the article Trixie gave her.

In one corner of the paper, was a photograph of Arthur. He was wearing a scowl on his face that made him look mad, yet very handsome. The photographer obviously taking the picture without his knowledge.

Below was the story of how the American Captain had led a raid to liberate over 500 prisoners from a Nazi encampment. She read and reread all the details the paper was able to print. Arthur and his unit must have been those soldiers who had left them with those sick and dieing men at the bombed out chapel. Men who would have died if they waited much longer to be liberated.

To think, her Arthur had been so close to her this whole time. Just a few days ahead of her and she never knew. She should have felt it somehow.

She smiled to herself as she read that he would receive the distinguished service cross as well as a promotion to Major. He hadn't said a word about it. Nothing about his own heroics. Maybe it was because of this article that all the women on the streets were looking at him. All the men in the pub were so reverent to him.

She gently tore the picture free from the paper. She liked this picture. Liked how he looked a little angry and serious. It wasn't her Arthur at all, but she still like it. Her Arthur looked at her with kind eyes and not an furrowed brow.

She unbuttoned the clever little pocket in her friendship pillow and pulled out her grandmother's compact. By the moonlight, she fitted Arthur's newspaper picture into the frame of the compact. Setting the silver family heirloom on her tiny night stand next to her darkened lamp. She quickly stripped off her uniform and changed into her night gown. The clean bedding felt good on her tired body and she rolled over to see his picture.

It felt strangely comforting to have his photograph there looking back at her. His face so close to hers. With a giddy rush of excitement, she imagined he was in bed with her. That her blanket was his arms wrapped around hers. That her pillow was his body.

She barely had time to luxuriate in these thoughts before falling to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

14.

~ It seemed to take forever for her shift to finally end. Normally, her work kept her so busy, she lost track of time. Today was different, today she hoped to see Arthur, her Captain at 4 o'clock.

She watched the clock nervously. The time dragging by slowly as she helped Doctor Kikie. As she cleaned wounds and treated the sick. Finally, 4 o'clock came.

"Shift is over." She said to Doctor Kikie as she left her duties as soon as her relief came in. The gentleman looking at her in surprise as she raced out of the ward.

'_What if he isn't there?_' She thought as she tried to slow her steps and look calm and presentable. Tried to look like a Senior Nurse as her heart was racing in her chest.

'_Arthur._' She said in her head. '_Arthur, Arthur, Arthur._'

Like she had invoked some magic spell to bring him to her, he was there. Sitting in the front lobby of the hospital. His hat in one hand, and a bouquet of wild flowers in the other.

He snapped into standing at seeing her.

"Hello." She said. A happy smile on her face as she was so glad to see him again. So happy he had come when he said he would.

"Hi." He said awkwardly. He looked at the flowers in his hand. "I um... I brought these for you." He said handing her the wild flowers that smelled like spring time, grass and earth.

"I'm sorry their not roses. With the war on..." He tried to explain.

"Oh, their lovely. Thank you." She said. "I've never had anyone bring me flowers before."

"Really?" He asked with a laugh of disbelief.

They stood embarrassed for a while as the other patients in the foyer watched the pretty nurse and handsome Captain.

"Um. So there is a showing of Bambi tonight for the officers. It's to help raise moral." He said awkwardly. "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. I know it's a kid's movie, but-"

"Oh no!" She cut him off. Her heart doing cartwheels. "No, I would love to go."

He looked relived that she accepted his invitation.

"Just, give me a second to change. Alright?" She asked as she backed away from him. Not wanting to break their eye contact. Her feet hitting the stairs and she almost flew up the five flights of stairs to her dorm. Remembering just in time to act dignified and walk.

~ "A movie?" Trixie was saying as she forced Ariadne into the American girl's tight red dress. "That's so cute."

"Trixie, I can't wear this!" Ariadne said as the red dress was too low cut for Ariadne's normal dress code. Her chest swelling out and she could feel the air hitting skin she never exposed.

"Sure you can." Trixie said as she pulled Ariadne's waist tighter and started brushing out her hair. "Now, put your lipstick on and pinch your cheeks."

"Trixie, we are _nurses_. We are not supposed to wear lipstick!" Ariadne said and Trixie styled her hair to fall in nice curls down her shoulders.

"Your not nursing the sick and wounded right now." Trixie said through a mouth of bobbie pins.

Ariadne looked at her reflection in the mirror. Suddenly, she had curves like Trixie. Her bust was so femininely displayed and her legs looked startling beautiful in the borrowed red heeled sandals. Her lips, seeming to make her face and skin look so much more healthy.

Trixie pinched her cheeks making them redder.

"I think your Captain will approve." She said.

~ Arthur wanted to start biting his nails. A habit he had been broken off when he was a child. His mother's swift slap on his knuckles whenever his hand roamed to his mouth. Telling him only common people bit their nails and it was a disgustingly low habit to partake in.

He couldn't help it. He was nervous. He felt more nervous now then he did when he stormed the beaches of Normandy. At least there, he knew what to expect. He knew what he had to do.

Right now, he had no clue what she, Ariadne, would expect. What she would think of him bringing her flowers he had to pick from some field? He hadn't dated much in his life. Linda being the most frequent girl he took out. She always demanded the go to a nice restaurant where she would be seen by everyone. Where she would order something expensive and not pay any attention to him. Her conversations mainly about fashion and her friends. Never knowing anything about current events or caring about the war except how it would affect her. How could he have married a girl like that?

Arthur shuttered at the memory and hoped Ariadne wouldn't be like Linda.

A flash of red on the stairs caught his eyes and he stood. His breeding and manners telling him to stand when a lady entered the room.

He couldn't take his eyes off her. This girl that was his to take out this evening. She looked so different out of her nurses uniform. Her body so much more suited to the red dress that hugged her figure. Her lips bright and lovely from the red lipstick that had been carefully applied and dark hair that was pinned away form her face, and fell to her shoulders.  
"You look..." He started to say and then looked at his hat that was in his hands. His train of thought derailed a he hoped for the right thing to say.

"Is this okay?" She asked him worriedly. "I can go and change if you want."

"No!" He almost shouted and looked back at his hat. "No. You look perfect."

~ Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the red dress was too tight. Her shoes too hard to walk in. She had been worried at first her new look was too garish and racy for a night at the movies. Especially when Arthur turned so red and looked at his hat. But then she saw the appreciative light in his eyes as he looked back at her. His warm hand taking hers as they strolled out of the hospital.

~ "Your the Captain, aren't you?" A man said stealing the couples thoughts away from each other.

Ariadne looked over to see a half staved and sickly looking man sitting on the front steps of the hospital. He was one of the men she and Doctor Kikie had found in the bombed out chapel. One of the men, she now knew, had been rescued by Arthur.

"Yes, Soldier." Arthur said regrettably letting Ariadne's hand go so he could shake the sickly looking man's hand. "Um, I guess I am."

"I remember you. You save my life. I thought I was going to die in that place. Then I saw you and your men. You pulled me out of the barrack and put me in the back of that truck." The thin man said. A heartfelt look in his sunken face.

"You would have done the same, Soldier." Arthur said looking embarrassed.

The thin man looked at Ariadne.  
"Ma'am, you have yourself a fine gentleman here. A very fine gentleman." He said.

Ariadne felt Arthur's embarrassment spread to her. Her Captain looking uncomfortable.  
"I know." She said kindly to him.

~ "Arthur! Wait!" She laughed as she slipped off her shoes and tried to run after her Captain. Arthur was laughing and keeping slightly ahead of her.

"I can't run in these shoes!" She shouted as she nimbly skipped after him in her bare feet. Not caring about broken glass or rocks that might have been hiding in the streets.

"Were going to be late!" He told her as he took her hand in his. That wonderful contact of his calloused palm in hers flooding her senses. Making her heart beat with a joyful noise.

They almost ran to the theater. The lovely ornate showplace that was lavishly decorated and only meant to be patronized by a better class of people. Ariadne slipped her heeled sandals back on as Arthur's body concealed her from the other officer's view.

~ "Captain." Dax said as he held fast to a pretty girl's hand. His Lieutenant spotting him and approaching them.

"Ariadne, right?" Dax said as if she were just another date Arthur had brought to the movie.  
"Yes." Ariadne said stiffly. Her body standing straighter after putting her shoes back on. Arthur noticed she looked uncomfortable around Dax.  
"Right. The girl who walked out of France with bleeding feet." Dax said almost mockingly.

Ariadne's face fell. She looked embaressed and hurt by the comment.

"Have a nice evening, Lieutenant." Arthur said to him. He suddenly didn't like Dax's casual attitude towards Ariadne's sufferings. Like what she had been through had been some kind of joke. An amusing story that was his to tell to anyone he wanted.

Dax didn't seem to care that he had offend anyone and pulled his date inside the theater.

Arthur turned back to Ariadne.  
"I'm sorry about that." He said holding her hand a little tighter.

"It's okay." She said looking at her shoes. Her cheeks pinking with embarrassment.

"No, it's not." Arthur said sternly. "I'll speak with him. He had no right to talk to you like that."

"Let's just go inside." Ariadne said shifting uncomfortably.

~ She had only been to the theaters in Paris a few times before the war started. Never to the more opulent theaters that catered to the wealthy. In London, going to the movies was a way of life. There was always some war related movie out. One that was proceeded by the news of the world. Something that was their duty to see.

But the theaters in London were not nearly as nice as this one. Not so heavily decorated.  
"This is nice." Arthur said. Still holding her hand.

A delicious smell caught her attention. She looked over to the concession stand and saw popcorn and candy being sold.

Her stomach growling to life and her mouth watering at the idea of popcorn, chocolate bars and lemonade that was being sold.

She said nothing as she tried to remember the last time she had eaten chocolate. The war had thrown such luxuries out of reach and like a dutiful nurse, a pillar of strength against the war, she never complained about how she longed for and missed sweets.

"Would you like something?" Arthur had asked as she felt ready to race to the concession stand and grab the first bar of chocolate there.

She suddenly felt ashamed of herself. She didn't want Arthur to think she was so selfish as to want candy. Not when there was a war on.

"Oh, no." She said as her eyes stayed locked onto the brightly colored treats.

"Are you sure?" He asked. His eyes looking at her in concern.

"Yes. I'm fine." She said. Ready to cry from want.

~ The movie had been wonderful. She had sat by Arthur's side the whole time. Their seats were in the balcony and they had a prime view of the movie.

She had never seen a movie in color before. She whispered that fact to him which made him laugh softly. His arm curling around her shoulders.


	15. Chapter 15

15.

~ After the show, other officers kept coming up to the couple. All of them shaking Arthur's hand and congratulating him.

"This is Ariadne." He said to them. Showing her off with pride was wasn't used to feeling. Never before had someone said her name with such awe and clear admiration.

When she had lived with the family, they had always treated her with grudging indifference. When they were out in public, her introductions were always: "My husband's niece."

By sharp contrast, Arthur introduced her as if she were worthy of the attention he was getting. As if he were proud of her for some reason.

"She's the Senior Nurse at the hospital." Arthur told an especially gruff looking Colonel.

"Well, for now I am." She corrected him. She didn't want these people thinking she was a Matron or anything.

"Don't be so modest." Arthur said teasingly as she hissed at him to stop bragging about her. "You should be proud of yourself."

~ They had finally left the theater and started to walk the long path back to her hospital. They had a pleasant view of the Eiffel tower, even though it wasn't lit up because of the fear of air raids.

"I read about you in the paper. What you did." She said bravely. His hand holding her own made her feel less skittish around him. His calloused palm was comforting in hers.

Arthur said nothing and looked at the view.

"Your getting the distinguished cross for rescuing those men. One of them was that man from the hospital." She added.

For a moment, she worried she had offended him by bringing the subject up. Perhaps he didn't want to talk about it.

He looked away. Shaking his head.

"Medals and honors, they really don't mean that much. In war time, they just give them away." He said indifferently. Looking at the view and not at her.

"No, they don't." She said sharply. "You didn't have to rescue them. They weren't your soldiers. They weren't your responsibility. You defied your orders to save them."

Arthur turned to her then and she stepped away.

"You know, I would throw medals and promotions into the deep blue sea if it meant the lives of all those I've seen die could be spared. If it meant my brothers were still alive."

He sighed and ran his thumb over her palm.  
"I don't want medals or glory." He said simply.

"Why not?" She asked. Every Soldier wanted those things.

He sighed.  
"The only reason you get medals and honors, is so that you can show them to your sons one day. So they can know what kind of man you are. Or were."

He looked at her then. A sadness in his eyes.  
"I never married. I have no sons." He said sadly.

Ariadne was quite for a long time as the Captain looked out over the view.

"When the war is over, maybe?" She said feebly. Not sure how to comfort him. "You can go home, find a nice, corn-fed farm girl to marry. She can give you a few strapping boys with big teeth."

She smiled even as her heart broke.

He laughed.  
"That sounds awful." He said stepping closer to her. His eyes crinkling as his face pulled up into a smile.  
"No, it will be nice. You can name them Larry, Moe and the little one Curly." She teased as her Captain pulled her closer to him.

His hand suddenly resting on her hip. That wonderfully strong hand was back on her hip again. She realized she was holding her breath as he was looking into her eyes. Just like he had done in the trauma room so long ago.

She felt her cheeks burn and she rose up higher on her toes. Her chest meeting his. Her skin brushing the fabric of his uniform.

"And what about you?" He asked in a husky whisper. His lips hovering near hers. Threatening to kiss her.

"What... what about me?" She stammered as she forgot how to think. Her mind existing only in this moment.

"Will you come back to France after the war? Marry some self absorbed artist who calls you Pet? A man who never had to spill blood on some beach? The two of you living in a loft and going to artist's parties?" He breathed. His voice so soft she barely heard him.

His lips were so close to hers, she was trembling in fear and want.

"That sounds awful." She said honestly.

"What kind of life do you want then?" He asked His eyes raking over her face as she felt his arms around her body. Pulling her closer to him. The memory of how they were in the triage room flooding back to her. The intensity of the moment was the same.  
"A life... where my husband loved me. Just the way I am. One where our children only know about this war only from history books." She said. Finding her words so easily, she wondered where they had come from.

"History books... and their father's stories." She finished bravely.

He was still holding her fast. His arms strong against her helpless body.

"Your children can look at their father's medals and know what kind of man he was." He finished her sentence. His lips so close to hers now she could taste him.

"What kind of man he _is_." She said weakly. Not able to look away from him.

He was kissing her then. His lips, warm and firm as her own lips were made to dance with his. Their kiss, long, slow and perfect.

She felt her breath leave her body as, finally, he pulled away. The warmth of his body leaving hers made her feel almost neglected without him. She wanted him close to her forever.

"Arthur." She panted weakly. Her body wanting to curl into his and sleep. Protected from this war for all time.

"I'm sorry. I know that we just met." He said as, with great effort, he slowly released her. His arms not wanting to let her go.  
"Arthur, I..." She tried to find the words. Tried to find a way to tell him that what he was feeling for her was just a drug related memory from when he was in the hospital.

He didn't really care for her. How could he? They had just met.

"Forgive me." He said moving back a strand of her hair when she couldn't force herself to tell him the truth.

His breathing was just as labored as hers as the couple stood achingly close to one another. His hands going back to her hips as he couldn't seem to stop looking at her.

"It's alright." She said shamefully.

"You know, I'm not like this." He told her. "I'm not the kind of man who courts a different girl in every town."

"I know your not." She said. Her head snapping up. "I understand that war time is different." Doctor Kikie's words coming back to her. How they could die tomorrow. How it was alright to fall in love. Was that what was happening to her now? Was she falling in love with him?

He nodded and looked grim.

"What about you?" He asked

"What about me?" she asked coyly.  
"Do you, date a lot of soldiers?" He asked. His eyes very interested in something other then her for a change.

She wanted to laugh, and was proud of herself for holding back.

"No. I don't date a lot of soldiers. The Matron lectures us all the time about fraternizing with the soldiers. She says that's not what were here for. We have been forbidden from dating the wounded men in our care." She told him and then bit her tongue.

"Well, I've never been in your care." He laughed. "So I guess were in the clear."

~ He took her to a small cafe for dinner and they talked for a long time.

"Tell me what it's like in America." She asked him as they ate.

"Busy. Not as busy as London. But all anyone talks about is Europe and Japan." He told her.

"I'd love to go to America someday." She said not thinking.

"Someday you will." He told her simply. She felt herself blush at the idea of going to America with him.

'_Was he thinking the same thing?_' She thought.

~ "May I call on you tomorrow?" He asked as he walked her back to her hospital. Her hand still latched into his. Her Captain seeming unable to let her go for the night.

"Yes." She said feeling a warm rush of happiness come over her as they stood on the hospital steps.

In a moment of sheer bravery, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, thanked him for the movie and almost ran up the hospital steps.

~ In the quite of her room she couldn't help but gaze greedily at her newspaper picture of her Captain. His face was so much younger looking when he was around her. Her heart felt so full of excitement as she wondered if she would ever fall asleep.

She wished he was still with her. She pulled her arms around herself and imagined it was his arms around her.

'_I bet this is what it feels like._' She thought as she finally drifted off. '_What is feels like to be loved._'

~ Arthur paid no attention to where he was going. His steps quick and light as he never felt so carefree and almost... happy.

He had never felt this way about a girl before. Never had a stupid smile on his face that he could not reform into a look of indifference. As ungentlemanly as it was, he wished he didn't have to be parted from her. Wished she could stay with him in his bed and they could spend the night like that. Wake up and be together again. He wished every night could be like that.

"Welcome home, Lover boy!" Dax teased when Arthur made it back to the barracks.

Arthur let the other officer's tease him about Ariadne. Asking when was the wedding and hooting wildly over their Captain's date.

"That's enough." Arthur said climbing into his bunk after washing up.

"Have to give you a little teasing, Sir." Dax said. "She's a fine lady. Didn't expect to see you back so soon. Thought you two would get a hotel room."

Arthur saddled into his bunk and tried to shut out the idea that he would ever treat Ariadne like that. She wasn't the kind of girl to be taken to a hotel. She wasn't the type to sneak off and do dirty things in a deserted warehouse with a soldier.

He was aware his men did these things with the girls. It was almost expected of them. But Arthur found the practice distasteful and he would never lower his Ariadne to that.

"Go to sleep, Lieutenant." He said settling himself to do the same.

"No shame in getting shot down, Captain." Dax laughed.

"Dax, in the future, I don't want you talking to Ariadne about her escape from France. Understand?" Arthur said coldly. The memory of Ariadne's face when Dax mocked her outside the theater hurt him.

Dax realized Arthur was serious and nodded his head.  
"Sure thing, Captain." He said.

Arthur let out a sigh as the last officer to bed turned down the light.

He wished that Ariadne was with him. Wished her small body was laying next to his right now. He sighed and let sleep take him.

He didn't wake until the explosion blew the barracks apart a few hours later.


	16. Chapter 16

16.

~ Arthur felt the explosion all the way to his teeth. The barracks jolted from the bomb that went off and created a horrible noise that made his ears hurt.

He had been dreaming of her. Of Ariadne. Of taking her back home and keeping her safely by his side. Her warm body in bed with him. Waking up next to her every morning when suddenly his blissful dream was ripped apart by the blast.

His lady vanishing from his bed like mist and replaced by smoke, shouting and a ringing in his ears as he found himself on the floor of the barracks.

Dax was kneeling over him and shouting. Asking if he was alright. Arthur tried to get his mind to wake up as he saw half the barrack was blown and on fire.

He felt that familiar out of body force take hold of him. The same kind of drive he had felt at Normandy when he wasn't sure who or what possessed him as he fearlessly stormed the beach and killed the men shooting at them.

With sure and decisive orders, he quickly had his men mobilized. Telling them to shake it off, and secure the barracks. To establish a perimeter and secure the weapons. He shouted for medics and a jeep. For a team to help him search for who did this.

Like a well rehearsed dance, his men sprang into action. Very quickly the fires were out, the barracks secured. His jeep was ready for him and a team of ten soldiers were eager to find out who bombed the American barracks.

"What do we know?" Arthur barked as he fastened his helmet on. Thinking maybe he needed to start sleeping with it on.

"Sentries saw some men flee West, Sir!" A corporal said as the jeeps roared angrily in the early light of dawn.

"How many?" Arthur shouted.  
"Three!"

"Fine. Dax! Take the second jeep and circle round. Cut them off. We will head strait and flush them out. Privet!" He shouted to the skinny privet who had dug those holes at the camp. The young man snapping to attention.

"Go south and take up our flank. Let them think they can get away by coming at you." He shouted as the jeeps rolled away from each other.

These men had practiced too much together. They know how to search and find someone. How to flush them out like they were quail hunting.

It didn't take long.

The bombers had thought the only jeep to give chase was directly behind them. They tried to go right and were hindered by Dax and his group. The bombers startled and scared now as two jeeps with the angry Americans were coming for them. They thought they had found safety by going west. Shocked again when a Jeep, driven by a skinny privet cut them off. Three soldiers jumping out and pulling them to the ground at gun point.

~ "Son, I couldn't be happier with how that operation went." Colonel Burch said. His face never showed any emotion, so it was hard to tell when he was happy or sad.

They watched at the three bombers were escorted to a holding cell.

"Thank you, Sir." Arthur said as he tired to get out of the jeep. A sharp pain went off in his back making him wince.

"You alright, Son?" The gruff Colonel asked.

"Fine, Sir." Arthur said easing back into the driver's seat.

His back hurt. He hadn't felt any pain till he tried to get out of the jeep. Arthur put his hand to his back and pulled back blood.

"You need to get to the hospital." The gruff Colonel said simply. "Must have happened during the blast. The shock kept you from feeling any pain."

"I'm fine sir." Arthur said as he felt a large piece of metal in his side.  
"This is not optional, Soldier." The Colonel said curtly.

Arthur sighed as Major Cobb was suddenly there. He moved aside in the jeep as Cobb took over the driver's side.

"Good thing we know a pretty nurse." The Major said.

~ "We have wounded!" Ariadne shouted out through the dorm. An old fashioned pulley bell, sent from down stairs, went off her in her privet room early that morning. This alerted the senior nurse to rouse the sleeping junior nurses from their beds.

It must be a large amount for that bell to go off. Girls jumping out of their beds in various states of undress to pull on blue dresses over night slips. Hurriedly fixing hair in bobbie pins and affixing hats to heads. Ariadne raced to pull on her white stockings, her dark gray dress, her white apron, her hat, her hair and her shoes. All while shepherding her junior nurses out of the dorm.

Down three flights of stairs the nurses almost ran. There was no time for elevators and they were taught never take the elevator in this modern hospital unless they were with someone too sick for the stairs.

~ In the large trauma ward, the smell of burned flesh hit Ariadne with a heavy force. She had almost forgotten what a burn victim smelled like. The last one she had treated was the small boy Arthur had tried to save.

"Steele yourself, Ladies." Ariadne warned her younger nurses as one of them looked especially green.

The men were all screaming and shouting for help as Ariadne and the Doctor were giving orders of basic treatment. Of not to waste time on minor burns and prepare clean gauze.

Doctor Kikie assigned Ariadne the grim task of assessing those who could not be saved. Men who were in such pain only morphine would help them for the few hours before they died.

Ariadne was almost sick as she pined a red tag on the clothing of a badly burned young man who's hair had been blown off. Who's eyes were swollen shut.

"Take him to the English doctor, right now." She said to the American soldiers who brought the young man in. His comrades still thinking he could be saved.

All Doctor Kikie could do right now was doll out the last of his morphine to make sure the victims of what was happening didn't suffer too much longer. He whispered that God would forgive him for bringing the young men to heaven early, if it meant they didn't lie in pain for days.

"What happened?" Ariadne asked an officer she recognized from the movie theater Arthur had taken her to. The young man who so carelessly reminded her of her escape from France during the invasion.

"Bomb went off in the barracks, Ma'am." Dax said as he helped bring in the wounded.

His uniform was singed and dirty from the explosion. He wasn't hurt, but looked like he had been close to explosion that caused all this.

She felt her heart leap up into her throat as she selfishly thought of only one person.  
"Arthur? The Captain?" She asked Dax. Her hand going to the Lieutenant's dirty uniform.

"Major Cobb is bringing him in." Dax said helping another man onto a gurney.

Ariadne left the large triage room and walked past the wounded men in the lobby. A nurse assessing the very worst of the victims and sending them into triage. The rest, she could only give ice to and tell them to wait. Some Army medics had managed to arrive and were treating the less sever cases.

Outside on the lawn, the soldiers were milling about. Some lightly hurt from the blast, others fine.

Ariadne looked through the sea of faces as they all looked back at her worriedly. Nowhere did she see Arthur or Major Cobb.

Then, as daylight flooded the sky, a jeep pulled into the hospital driveway. Arthur was was in the passenger side, looking especially pale.

"What happened?" Ariadne snapped as Cobb put the jeep in park, barked at a skinny Privet to help bring the Captain into the hospital and told Ariadne about the bombing and the capture of rouge enemy insurgents.

"They just threw a bomb into the barracks?" Ariadne asked in disbelief.

Arthur was having trouble walking. His feet stumbling over themselves.

"Gurney!" Ariadne shouted to a nearby medic. She didn't know what was wrong with her once strong Captain, but she feared he might be holding hands with death now.

She helped to ease Arthur onto a nearby gurney and pulled away from him. She hadn't noticed before, hadn't seen the shard of metal stuck into his side.

She looked stupidly at her hand for a moment. Her brain catching up to what she was seeing. Bright red blood stained her flesh as she was slow to realize Arthur was bleeding to death.


	17. Chapter 17

17.

~ "Pressure!" She snapped to Cobb as her Captain was still bleeding heavily. "Put pressure on the wound!"  
Cobb did as she ordered. He was too afraid not to. Arthur looked deathly white and sick.  
"Doctor Kikie!" Ariadne shouted as a medic helped her push the Captain into the main triage area. Doctor Kikie was pulled away from the last of the burn victims to see the desperately wounded man on the gurney.

He took on look at Arthur and ordered Ariadne to prep him for emergency surgery.

"No morphine, we don't want his breathing to drop. Lidocaine only." He ordered as Ariadne began cutting free his uniform.  
"I'm alright." Arthur groaned as he tried to sit up.

"Your not fighting me this time, son." The doctor said as he eased the Captain back down.

~ In a small surgical room, Ariadne helped the doctor remove the horrible looking shard of metal from her Captain's body. Arthur stayed awake the whole time, saying he was alright.

"Nurse, we will need a blood infusion." Doctor Kikie whispered to her.

"Already underway, Doctor." Ariadne whispered calmly back.

She had instructed her nurses to round up able bodied men to give blood as soon as the most severely wounded were under control.

"That's very good to hear." Doctor Kikie said calmly as he sewed Arthur's wound shut. Making sure he wasn't bleeding in unseen places. Asking Ariadne what his respiration's were. What his pulse was.

Their voices so calm and easy, it was as if they were talking about the weather and not a man's life. Trixie knocked on the door softly, she had a cloth face mask on and silently hung two glass plasma jars upside down on an IV pole.

"Excellent. Thank you, Nurse." Doctor Kikie said as Ariadne started Arthur's infusion.

The Doctor's tone sounding like Trixie had brought him a cup of tea instead of life saving plasma.

"This will help." Ariadne whispered to Arthur as she gently infused him with the blood.  
"I was so worried." Arthur was saying as he laid on his side. His voice child like and scared.

"Worried about what?" She whispered to him as Doctor Kikie worked on.

"I was worried the hospital might have been bombed to. That's all I could think about. What if you had been hurt?" Her Captain said.  
"My isn't this familiar." Doctor Kikie said. A touch of humor in his voice.

Ariadne had to smile at what the doctor said.

"Arthur, I'm fine." She whispered. Arthur wasn't drugged this time. He was fully himself as his eyes stayed on her.

"I was still worried." He said as he took her hand.

"What happened to the ones who did this?" She asked him. Her voice was soft. As if she were trying not to frighten him.

"We caught them." Arthur said simply. "I'm not sure when I got hurt. Probably in the blast. I think Dax pulled me on the floor before the real damage was done. It's not bad is it?"

"Nothing to write home about." The Doctor said confidently. Making even Ariadne, who knew better, believe the lie.

Ariadne returned her gaze to her Captain. He was looking at her with such heartfelt happiness, that she couldn't help but smile. Couldn't help but let her small hand find it's way back to his large one. Her wounded Captain seeking the comfort of her skin as Doctor Kikie cleaned the wound and gave him another shot for pain.

"I'd expect you'll be getting another medal for all this." The Doctor added. "You become any more honored, and I think you might tip over."

Arthur and Ariadne both smiled as the Doctor covered him.  
"I'll go and tell the Major that you'll live. Nurse, please keep an eye on our Captain here. Make sure his vitals stay normal." He added before leaving.

Ariadne understood that the Doctor was giving the two of them precious time to be alone together.

"How do you feel?" She whispered as he laid on his side. Perfectly content to stay there and not try and be heroic and hurt himself even more.

"Better." He whispered. His thumb rolling over the pad of her hand.

His color did look improved. He no longer had the sickly, waxen like appearance to his face.

"Ariadne? How many? How many were killed?" He asked.

"Don't think about that now." She tried to tell him.

"Tell me." he demanded. His voice gentle, but still authoritative.

"Over a dozen." She sighed. "They were so badly burned that we could only manage the pain."

Arthur didn't say anything for a long time as she took his blood pressure.

"Much better." She said taking the rest of his vitals. The infusion of blood almost empty and she started him on the second.

"I feel a little selfish, having the best nurse in the hospital look after only me." He said as she helped him to sit up on his side a little.

"Well, my nurses and the medics can handle it. Beside, you heard Doctor Kikie." She whispered. Pulling a little chair closer to his bedside. "I have to look after you. You just had surgery."

"Come here." Arthur side pulling her to him. His arms stills strong despite being so gravely wounded.

Ariadne was giggling as his lips seized hers. A sudden rush of happiness washing over her at being alone with him like this. Of having him want her in such a way.

He decency, her reserve, made her push away from him as she felt his hand wander over her breast. His strong hands wanting to unbutton her dress collar.

"Ariadne." He breathed as she leaned away. His face disappointed and wanting.

Her own breathingwas quick as her body was feeling oddly alive. A sensation she wasn't used to feeling unless he was there. How easily she could give herself to him right now. Her body feeling restless as she had to remember that her Captain was wounded and she wasn't the type if girl to do the things she suddenly wanted to do.

"Please." Arthur whispered tying to pull her back to him as she slid away. Her fingers going to her collar and trying to fix it.  
"Arthur, I'm... I'm not that kind of girl." She said stammered as she tried to remember how much she could lose if she gave into her Captain just now. Her position as Senior Nurse, her place at the Red Cross. She would be disgraced.

Arthur looked taken aback. Like she had insulted him.

"I'm sorry." She said feebly.

Surely, he wouldn't want her now. He was a lonely soldier who was far from home. He would want a girl who could keep him proper company. One who wouldn't refused to let his hands wander over her body and undress her. To do the things only married people were allowed to do.

"Ariadne, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have." He told her awkwardly. Embarrassment written on his face.

She looked at him. His eyes remorseful as his hand found her's again.  
"I shouldn't have done that. I know your a decent lady. I know... I'm sorry." He apologized.

She nodded. Feeling her spirit was wounded slightly. Surely, now that she knew she wouldn't sleep with him, he wouldn't want to see her again.

~ Arthur didn't argue as the gruff Colonel ordered him to stay the night in the hospital. Doctor Kikie telling Ariadne to take Arthur to recovery.

Arthur asked her to check on him later. His voice hopeful as he watched his nurse leave.

~ She came back to the cold storage room and helped the nurses there wrap bodies. A corporal tagging the men who had died from the blast. Living long enough to be taken to the hospital in the hopes they would survive.

She helped to clean the ward. The floor sticky with blood and other foul things. Other nurses whispering about the bombing and some heroic Army Captain who chased down the men who did it.

Ariadne hid a little smile as she was somehow glad to go back to this mindless type if work. Her thoughts free to think about Arthur.

For now, he was safe in the recovery room. After she cleaned up, she might make some excuse to come down and see him. She was Senior Nurse and no one would question her checking on a patient. No matter what hour of night.

She felt suddenly happy as she thought of what might happen if she visited him in nothing but her night dress.

~ It was after midnight when the nurses were done with the clean up. Most of them too exhausted to care about anything but going to sleep. Ariadne took a long, hot bath and nestled into her bed. Her Captain's picture looking back at her from her compact mirror. She smiled at him as she played her favorite game. Pretending his arms were around her in her little bed. Her pillow was his chest as she looked at her handsome Captain's face in it's little frame.

Her lips aching to kiss his again.

~ She had no idea how long she slept, but then she woke up. It was still dark outside.

Her watch said it only 4 in the morning and she was suddenly too restless for sleep. Her body thinking it was time to get up and be active. She dressed in her gray uniform and silently stole out of the dormitory.

~ Downstairs, the recovery ward was silent. A plump little nurse was sound asleep at the nurse's station when she should have been awake and watchful of her patients. Anyone of them could start choking or dieing at any moment.

Ariadne wanted to kick the girl awake but didn't. She had spotted her Captain sleeping.

Arthur looked so peaceful as he lay in the single bed. Only a curtained, room divider gave the officer any privacy.

Ariadne stole down the aisles of the sleeping men. Light snoring reaching her ears as the men all slept deeply.

She closed the room dividers around Arthur's bed and quietly moved closer to him.

"Arthur?" She whispered. Her heart beating loudly in her chest. If she were caught, she would be able to play it off. She was Senior Nurse, just checking on a patient.

"Arthur?" She whispered again shaking him lightly.

Arthur snapped awake. As if pulled from a bad dream. He was panting and she had to put her finger to her lips to keep him from speaking at full volume.  
"Ariadne?" He said in a soft voice. His eyes dancing as he looked over her. "What time is it?" He asked looking around at his enclosed bed space.  
"Early, or late." She said in a barely audible whisper. "We have to be quite." She added.

**Sorry I havent been posting two capters a day. I got a new Ipad 3, and I am WAY into playing with it. LOL.**


	18. Chapter 18

18.

~ Arthur fought sleep till almost midnight. He worried that if he fell asleep, his pretty nurse might come and see him. She might let him sleep and not wake him.

The drugs in his body were making him sleepy as night came. He was beginning to think Ariadne wasn't going to come and see him. That their privet moment in the surgical room had scared her away. Made her feel like he was only after a cheap, war time fling.

He wished she would come. Wished he could explain himself. That he was sorry and he wouldn't do it again. If only she would come see him.

He had fallen asleep and dreamed of the beach. Of blood staining the sand red. He dreamed of his father there. The two of them walking the blood stained beach. Adam telling him to come home. His father looked strange in the dream. His skin was gray and almost ghostly.

"Arthur?" Came a woman's voice out of his father's mouth.

He felt the dream collapsing.  
"Arthur?" He recognized that voice. He abandoned his father on the beach then. Awoke to the world of a clean hospital bed and Ariadne in the moonlight.

~ "Ariadne?" He said in shock. Her finger went to her lips. Silencing him.

"We have to be quite." She told him.

He nodded numbly as his lovely nurse stood and pulled back his covers. He watched her with wide eyed disbelief as she climbed into bed with him. Her skin and hair smell of good things. Soap and a hint of some mysterious female scent that enticed him.

She looked at him worriedly as she snuggled into the too narrow bed. Their bodies laying on their sides as they tried to accommodate each other in the tiny space.

He covered them both with his blanket once she was properly settled. Her slight body fitting perfectly next to his. Instinctively, he kissed her forehead. Her dancing eyes looking up at him and a smile coming across her face.

"I'm glad you came." He whispered. Their faces close together. Her lips touching his cheek as he ran a hand over her hair.

His dream come true at last. She was in his bed. It was everything he had ever hoped for.

She bit her lip and nodded. The stillness of the night making the moment seem even more unreal.

"I'm sorry. For the way I acted before." He said softly. His voice quite as he could hear the other men sleeping.  
"I know." She breathed back. Her slender fingers running over his hospital gown. Reaching his face at last. His cupped her hands in his and kissed each finger.  
"Before the bomb went off, I was dreaming about this." He confessed.

"Really?" She said. Her face perking up happily.

He nodded.

"Just us together. Nothing more." He said honestly. "I feel like I was meant to find you. Like I had been searching for you. When I saw in walk into that pub, it was like..." He felt him self grow suddenly embarrassed.  
"What?" She asked curiously.  
"I think I dreamed you into life." He said feeling foolish.  
"What?" She laughed. Her voice slightly louder and he kissed her sweetly on the lips to keep her quite.

"What do you mean?" She asked once he pulled away.  
"Well, I was injured in London. A few weeks before the invasion of Normandy." He explained as her face fell slightly.  
"It was nothing serious." He told her. "It's just that, I dreamed of this girl. She was so beautiful. Then I swear I saw her getting onto a bus. She was wearing a blue dress. Turned out to be you. I tried to catch the bus, but it was gone too fast." He explained.

Her face still looked odd. Like he had told her something horrible.

"I think I was dreaming about you. The woman I was always meant to find. It's more then coincidence that your in Paris with me now. It's not just because its war, and I'm far from home. It means something." He said kissing her.  
"Oh, Arthur." She said looking heartbroken.

"What is it?" He asked. His large hand cupping her face as she looked ready to cry.

From the nurses station, came a noise. Ariadne snapped away from his arms and pulled herself out of his bed. His covering suddenly cold and empty without her body heat.

She didn't look back as she slipped out of his enclosed bed. Her silent feet stealing her away in the night.

~ "Oh, Nurse." The ward nurse said standing up. "I didn't see you come in."

"How could you?" Ariadne asked standing straighter. "You were sleeping. These men are in critical condition. They may show sighs of distress at any moment, you need to stay awake and monitor them."

"Yes, Nurse." The plum woman said looking ashamed of herself.

"What if it was your loved one in here?" Ariadne asked as she left the nurse's station. Her cheeks red as she climbed the stairs back to her solitary room.

~ Part of her Captain remembered her from the night of the bombing. Remembered holding her in his arms and kissing her. Telling her he loved her. That was the only reason he was even interested in her. Some drugged memory telling him to have feelings for her.

~ The Captain was released from the hospital a few days later. His nurse coming to visit during the bright and busy daylight hours. Always when there were other people around, always keeping her comments to him light and professional.  
"Ariadne, whatever I did, I'm sorry." He whispered to her as she took his blood pressure.

She avoided his eyes.  
"The Doctor says you can be released tomorrow, Captain." She said simply as she made to leave.

He grabbed her hand. His voice low as he looked around. Ensuring no one was looking at them.

"About the other night. I told you, there was never another girl. It was just a dream. It feels like I was meant to find you." He breathed. His eyes worried as she separated herself from him, and left.

~ It took all of her courage to keep herself distant from her Captain. She wanted so much to go to him at night and crawl into his bed. Feel his arms on her again. Their bodies warm under the covers.

She had to distance herself from him. He didn't really care for her. He was just remembering that night in the little surgical room. His drug addled memory recalling her face and thinking he loved her. It was terribly selfish of her to let him think that he really cared for her.

~ Arthur was discharged the next day. His wound had started to heal nicely. Doctor Kikie telling him to rest and not go around saving kittens from trees or any other nonsense he was surely prone to do.

Arthur thanked him and wished Ariadne had been there to see him leave.

He asked a blond nurse with an American accent and perfect teeth what time Ariadne would be off.

"Around noon, I think." She said smiling at him. "Your welcomed to wait. I know she would love to see you, Captain."

Her smile was seductive and pleasing. Arthur stepped away.  
"That's alright. Please, don't tell her I was even asking." He said and left.

~ Ariadne was glad she had missed Arthur leaving. It was important to make things as easy as possible for them. It felt like all the air in her body had been savagely ripped out, but she steeled herself and tried not to show it.

"Oh, Nurse." Trixie sang out. Her perfect American teeth flashing obnoxiously.  
"What is it?" Ariadne asked as she pulled off her uniform. She wanted nothing more then to get something to eat, read her book and go to sleep.

"Can you... go back downstairs and get my cap? I left it in the lobby." Trixie said with a secretive smile. The blond girl's hair was in rollers and Ariadne had already slipped on her favorite blue dress.

She sighed at her friend.  
"Why is your hat down there?" She asked.  
"I was fooling around with this soldier and I left it in the coat room." Trixie explained simply.  
"Trixie!" Ariadne laughed.  
"Can you please just get it for me? I don't want to go downstairs with my hair in rollers." Trixie said.

~ Why she did these things for her friends, she didn't know. She went downstairs and waved at the other nurses. None of them used to seeing her in normal clothes. All of them taking a double glance at her as if shocked she wasn't the same person they saw everyday.

She stopped dead when she saw her Captain waiting for her in the lobby.

Arthur saw her before she could race back upstairs.

"Hello." He said standing up and walking towards her. He was as resplendent as even in his dress uniform.

"Hi." She said meekly as she realized she would have to talk to her Captain.

"You've been avoiding me." He said. His voice low and indifferent.

"Yes." She said.

He nodded and said nothing for a long time.

"You look really pretty. I like that dress." He said politely.

"Thank you."

He looked at the hat he had in his hands. Nervous as always.

"I was hoping we cold go for a drive. Just the two of us. I've requisitioned a jeep for the day. I was thinking we could drive to your Uncle's house. See if their alright." He said extending a hand to her.


	19. Chapter 19

19.

~ "Won't you get into trouble for this?" She asked as he started the Army jeep. It growled into life and her Captain put the monstrous thing into gear and drove steadily away from the hospital.

"No." He said simply as they drove out of the city.

She looked in the back of the jeep. There was a flour sack in the back seat.

"Our lunch." He told her over the roar of the jeep. "I was thinking we might want to stop and eat on the way."

She nodded and didn't say anything. A worry was building in her as he didn't ask for an explanation for her coldness to him over the past few days.

She couldn't pass up the chance to find out if the Family was alright or not. Her letters, while she was in London, were not able to get through. The mail was still not reliable and none of her recent letter had gotten an answer.

She had meant to go and see them, but lacked a car of her own to do so. Arthur presented her with the chance to see if she had any family left after the brutal occupation.

"Thank you." She said once they were out of the city. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes I do." He told her casually. His face not so angry as they rode in silence.

~ About fifteen miles outside of the little village she had called home before the invasion, Arthur stopped for lunch.

He made her wait in the jeep for a long time as he looked over a field. His side arm in his hands. Explaining that the country was still not safe.

She was starving but didn't want to admit it. Her Captain finally coming back, and pulling out a blanket as she took the flour sack.

"I was thinking we could have a picnic." He said nodding to a lonely looking field. A place that didn't look to belong to any farm and had a shady, comfortable place for them to escape to.

Arthur spread out the blanket and didn't say much to her as she unpacked their lunch. He have gotten them a feast of bread, cheese and boloney. There was apples and crackers for them and, her breath caught. A large bar of chocolate.

"A supply truck came in today." He explained to her unasked question. "Brought a lot of food with them."

"Chocolate." She said weakly feeling her mouth water. The bar of Hershey's chocolate was heavy and in her hands as she looked over the wrapper.

"Thought you might want that." He told her. He pulled out a glass water bottle and tin cups. "All we have is water, sorry." He said pouring her a cup as she set the chocolate bar aside and started cutting into the roll of boloney.

"When my cousin Phillip and I were evacuating, we ate and slept out in fields like this all the time." She told him. The smell of food and warm country air bringing her back to that day.  
"We didn't pack any food with us because we didn't think the roads would be so blocked up. There were cars all over this very road. Just inching along. A lot of people on bikes like, us or walking."

Arthur said noting as she fixed their lunch. Cutting into the loaf of bread and making the slices thick.

"We were going to our Aunt's home. The Nazis had cut the power to her village. When we finally got there, she and her family had left."

"Where were your Aunt and Uncle? The one you had been living with?" He asked as she handed him his sandwich.

"They had taken the car. They had the younger children and their things. I think the traffic slowed them down too much." She sighed.

"It was beautiful weather. The day we evacuated. Just like today. It didn't feel like we were being invaded at all. Phillip and I found some food at my Aunt's home. We biked on the road with all the traffic. We met up with these students. They were going to try and get to England. It was as good a plan as any, so we stayed with them. We slept outside. The weather was so perfect, it didn't matter if we were outside."

They ate in silence as they watched a dragon fly float amoung the flowers. Summer was almost over and the last of the flowers were dieing away.

"Phillip was worried about his parents. His family." Ariadne explained slowly. "He wanted to go back and make sure they were alright. So he left me with the students."

She was quite for a long time.

"How did you ge tot Dunkirk?" Arthur asked at last.  
She seemed pulled from her memories and shook her head.

"We all got on a train. It took us some of the way. Then they told us the tracks had been bombed. So we had to walk. We walked for days. We didn't have any food left. We were afraid to go to villages and ask for food. The Nazis were moving in so fast. They were always in some village or other." She said sadly.

"We ran into other people on the road. They told us terrible things. About finding heaps of bodies. About bodies in a river. It was all so terrible."

Arthur looked worriedly at her as she seemed to lose her appetite.

"My feet were bleeding when we reached Dunkirk. I couldn't walk anymore. We were all so tired and hungry. Lucky for me, Eames found me on the beach and got me on one of the boats. I might be dead now if it wasn't for him."

"What about the others? The students?" Arthur asked.

She shrugged and held back tears from her eyes.  
"I don't know what happened to them. I never saw them again." She told him. "I know it sounds awful, but I was just so grateful to be out of there. To still be alive and safe."

"What happened when you reached England?" He asked. Remembering that he was comfortable in his home while she was hurt, alone, scared and starving. He and his father reading about the evacuation in the papers.

"I stayed in the hospital for a few days. I was told I could stay in the country as long as I worked for the war effort. I wanted to be a nurse like the ones who took care of me." She said sitting up a little straiter. "I wanted to be like them." She finished.

They said nothing for a long time. Watching the sun lazily move across the sky.

"Eat your chocolate." He said at last. The meal gone and he wanted to go to sleep on this blanket with her.

"I can't eat it all." She said with a smile.  
"Sure you can." He told her.

Ariadne looked over the wrapper. She carefully peeled it back and the smell of the heavenly confection hit her and made her slightly dizzy.

Slowly she ate it. The rush of sugar and magic of chocolate hitting her brain and making her feel very happy.

"I haven't had chocolate since before I left France." She laughed at her own foolishness.

Arthur said nothing as he relaxed on the blanket. Content to watch her eat.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you the past few days." She said meekly.  
"Why did you? Why are you pushing me away?" He asked.

She shook her head and looked down at the empty wrapper. Wishing she had more of the candy.

"Are you worried I might try something?" He asked.

"No. It's complicated." She told him.

"You have a sweetheart back in London?"

She laughed.

"No. No I don't have anyone back in London."

"Then tell me. What is it?" He said.

She looked up at the sun and avoid him.

"It's getting late." She said changing the subject. "We should get going."

~ Arthur didn't argue as they packed the jeep up. He was about to start the engine when she leaned over and kissed him.

"Thank you." She said in a soft voice.

~ They drove in silence for a long time. Ariadne was happy to see country side that she recognized come into view. She saw the Family's home peep out through over grown trees and directed Arthur to tune up the driveway.

She wanted so much to see her Aunt come out of the front door. Wanted her cousin, Phillip, to ride his bike up to meet them. Laughing at her for not staying in France.

Instead, the house looked sad and empty. The windows were all broken and the door kicked in and torn away long ago. The once grand house was let to rot in the open weather for years now.

"Stay here." Arthur said stepping out of the jeep. She watched in horror as he pulled out his side arm. Walking around the ghost like house.

Ariadne looked at the stone lions that guarded the front entrance. She and Phillip would sit on them and talk. They looked the same. War had not touched them.

"There's no one here." Arthur said breaking into her memories.

She jumped out of the jeep and marched into the house.

All the furniture, the fine rugs, the paintings on the walls, everything was stripped. Not even the wiring or or wallpaper had been spared.

"What happened?" She cried softly as she looked up the grand staircase. Part of it had been taken apart.

"The Nazis must have looted the place." Arthur said sadly.

"Would the Nazis have take the steps on the staircase?" Ariadne said feeling a rush of anger. Her Aunt would have died before she would have allowed someone to spoil her fine home like this.

Ariadne knew then, with absolute certainty, the Family was dead.

"Our neighbors came in here and stole everything that wasn't nailed down. They burned the stairs in their fires." She said roaming all over the once elegant parlor. The grand piano was gone. The garden doors had been pulled free and exposed the house to the weather even more.

The house was just a shell. Nothing about the Family's home remained. He last thread to them was gone.


	20. Chapter 20

20.

~ "We should ask around. Your Aunt and Uncle must have left word where they were evacuating to." Arthur said as the once pretty nurse now wore an angry scowl. She prowled the upstairs and looked in each room.

"My Aunt and Uncle are dead." She said coldly.

"Ariadne." He said calmly. "We don't know that. Let's ask around."

She was shaking her head.

"My Aunt's mother was Jewish. The people in Paris told me how the Nazis rounded up all people who had _any_ Jewish heritage. They lost property and were sent away. They didn't know where the people were sent to. Just that they were arrested shortly after the invasion." She explained distractedly looking into each room.

Every room, was ripped free of furniture, rugs and even the wall paper. It was if a terrible storm had beaten the house. Aged it by a century, rather then 4 years.

"We need to ask around. We can go to your other Aunt's home. The one you and Phillip were trying to get to." Arthur offered.  
"There's no point." Ariadne said bitterly.

She marched down the servants stairs and into the back garden.

"They even took the garden statues." She laughed darkly as she looked at the over grown lawns.

Her Aunt had once lovingly tended this garden. It had been a show place that was the envy of the village. The family, being so wealthy, no doubt had a target on them because of it. Many of the neighbors must have been happy to sell them out. Coming into the fine mansion to pick over the remains after the Nazis had taken what they wanted.  
"I wish you could have seen it before." She whispered.

Something caught the Captain's eye. A movement in the grass. A pair of eyes looking at them.

He sprang so quickly Ariadne barely had time to register what was happening. Her Captain racing to the dead rose bushes and pulling a figure out of it's hiding place.  
"Arthur!" She shouted as the Captain pulled a teenage by the collar.

The boy was dirty and too thin.

"Who are you?" Arthur growled pulling his side arm out. The boy looking terrified of the strong American.  
"Arthur!" Ariadne shouted running to them. "That's Tomas! He's the cook's son."

The boy whimpered as Arthur slacked his grip on his collar. He made to run away again but Arthur pulled him back.  
"Tomas!" Ariadne said kneeling down to see the boy better.

The frightened youth looked worriedly from the scary GI to the pretty girl in the blue dress.

"Tomas, it's me. It's Ariadne." She said making the boy look at her.

"Ari-Bell?" The boy said.

~ Arthur had always been good at the French language. But he had trouble keeping up with the fast pace that his nurse and the trespasser spoke in.

He was only able to catch fragments of words. That Ariadne's Aunt and Uncle had been taken a week after the invasion. They never came back.

"Where is your mother?" Ariadne asked the boy. "Take us to your mother."

~ The boy was pleased to ride in the jeep. Ariadne giving him something to eat from the flour sack. Asking him about Phillip.

"He came back. It was fine for a while. We thought they wouldn't do anything." Tomas said as he ate. Ariadne directing Arthur to a little cottage down a road.

"One night, the police came for them. Arrested them." He said.

"The police? Not the Gestapo?" Ariadne asked. The boy shook his head.  
"We only saw the Nazis _after_ they were taken. They lived in your Aunt's house."

"What about Phillip?" Ariadne asked. "What about the children?"

~ "Phillip ran away." A thin, angry looking, old woman said as Arthur and Ariadne sat down in a spartan kitchen. "The police arrested your Aunt and Uncle about a week or so after the invasion. It was very bad. Everyone was trying to get out. I can not tell you how many people came barging up to the big house wanting food and water. They would camp out on the lawn and everything." She explained as Arthur gave the boy more bread. Cutting it with his Army knife.

"After things died down, we thought we would be alright. Then they came. Even arrested the children." The old woman said.  
"Phillip ran off. Or so gossip said. We had no idea what happened to you. Your Aunt never mentioned you at all. Never even asked Phillip why you didn't come back with him." The old lady said casually.

Ariadne blinked at that. Her feelings hurt at the unexpected insult the old cook levied against her. Arthur gave a hard look at the old woman.

Ariadne swallowed hard.  
"Have you heard anything from them? Anything at all?" She asked timidly. Her voice suddenly shaky.

"Nothing." The cook said sadly. "Your Aunt was a real lady. Very refined. We all miss her."

"I'm sure you _all_ do." Ariadne said coldly. "That's why you ripped out the wires and stairs to sell or burn. Why your boy was running around the garden. Tell me? What did you take from the house? It couldn't have _all_ been the Nazis. Who told the Nazis that my Aunt had Jewish family?"

The old woman glared at the younger one.

"You can't know what it was like. To live with those devils breathing over you. We survived. We didn't run off and spread our legs to some GI to stay alive." The old woman said throwing a look at Arthur.

Ariadne stood and stormed out of the little cottage. Her face burning hot.

~ The cook had always pandered to her Aunt now that she remembered. The old woman had never cared for Ariadne before. She wasn't sure how she had forgotten that. How had she forgotten that she was never really a member of the family? That the house of her Uncle's was never her home.

"Let's go back." She said as Arthur followed her to the Jeep.

~ "I'm sorry." He said after a few miles of not talking.  
"Not your fault. It's no one's fault." She said stiffly.

"It was my suggestion to find out what happened." He said gravely. His face remorseful.

"I had to find out eventually." She said looking at the passing scenery.

She sighed and tried to fight back tears.

"My parents died of the influenza when I was 9." She said suddenly. The approach of evening causing a magical feeling to spread out over the country side.

"I stayed at an orphanage for a few months till my Uncle said he would take me. I was put on a ship alone and sent to France."

Arthur said nothing as she went on.

"My Uncle's wife didn't want me to live with them. Never liked me. Everythime I did anything well, in school or whatever, she just found a way to put me down. It was always clear I was a guest in the house, not a family member." She finished.

"I'm sorry." He said.

She shrugged.

"I guess I wasn't remembering it right." She admitted sadly. "I guess I forgot what they were really like. I forgot that I really am alone."

"Your not alone." Arthur said slowing the jeep down as they passed a small bridge.

She looked at him. His voice was sincere.  
"At least, I don't want you to be alone." He corrected awkwardly. His heart on his sleeve.  
She looked at her hands.  
"Arthur, there's something you need to know." She said taking a deep breath.

He looked at her expectantly. Night creeping over the road as Paris glittered into into view.

"A few weeks before the Normandy invasion, I was working at the hospital. An American soldier was brought in after an air raid." She said. Her eyes staying on her hands and not on him.

"He had saved a family in a burning house and went back for a little boy. The house fell on both of them. The boy died, but the soldier was only wounded. He was brought into the trauma ward. I had to use and opium to calm him down because he was fighting too much. He had a lot of shrapnel on his back." She said trying to rush to the end.

"Ariadne." Arthur said distractedly.

"He was talking to me the entire time the doctor was pulling the shrapnel out. But, the drugs made him a little... disoriented. He said things to me he didn't mean." She went on.

"Ariadne." Arthur said slowing down and pulling the jeep over.

"Look at me." He ordered.

She took a deep breath and meet his eyes.  
"What are you saying?" He asked.

"How you think you feel about me, it's not real. You didn't _dream_ about me, you were just remembering when you were drugged. How you feel isn't real." She said feeling tears bloom unwelcome into her eyes.

Arthur said nothing to her as she looked at her hands again.

"Ariadne." He said softly. His voice kind. Like it had been when they first met. She ignored him and looked at her hands.

"Please look at me." He said taking her hand. Those large, warm hands of his with the rough callouses she loved so much.

His eyes were very soft as she peered back at him.

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?" He asked.  
"I thought it would be easier." She said sadly. "Eventually you would realize you don't have feelings for me."

"I _do_ have feelings for you. You can't tell me what I feel for you isn't real." He said confidently. "It's real."

She was nodding then. Her mind rebelling against what his was saying as her heart felt like it was growing with each beat.

"So that was real, huh?" He asked with a laugh. She had to smile. Her poor Captain was no doubt embarrassed by the way he acted under the drugs.  
"Yes. It was very memorable." She admitted.  
"What did I say?" He asked.

"Lots of things." She admitted shyly.

"Like what?" He laughed.  
"You asked about me, told me you were going to help me. Help me fix it all. Then... you um... you kissed me." She admitted.

"Really?" He laughed.

She nodded. Embarrassed.

"Well that sounds like something I would do." He teased and she giggled.

He started the engine and put the jeep into gear again.

~ It was night when the jeep rolled into the hospital's driveway.  
"Can I see you again tomorrow?" He asked as she was reluctant to let this day with him end.

She nodded and felt her courage rise.

She leaned over and kissed her Captain then. Felt his lips part and his breath find hers. His tongue danced lightly over her own.

She pulled away suddenly breathless. Her lips tingling as she had never been kissed like that before.

"I have to go." She whispered.

He nodded. His eyes sad that she was leaving. His hands, reluctant to let her slip away.

"Thank you, for all you did for me today." She whispered.


	21. Chapter 21

21.

~ Ariadne was almost floating back to her room. Arthur's kiss had left her heart beating like a humming bird's wings as she felt like a young girl with a crush.

"My don't we look happy." Trixie said with that cat like smirk as Ariadne came back to their dorm room. The Senior Nurse wearing a ridiculous grin on her face.

Ariadne ignored her friend. She was too happy to care about what Trixie, or anyone else, thought. Arthur cared for her. Told her he cared about her. Kissed her like they do in the movies.

Had asked to see her again. _Wanted_ to see her again.

Ariadne pulled off her blue dress and climbed into bed in just her slip. Her eyes darted to her compact where her handsome Captain resided in his little frame.

"I love you." She whispered in a barely audible voice. Half afraid he might hear her somehow.

~ The cool autumn air was weaving thought he streets of the city. A breeze that seemed to breathe life back into the people as Arthur walked next to his pretty nurse.

"I was thinking we could go on a real date. Dinner and everything." The Captain said as his hand caught hold of hers.

She felt a wave of pride rush over her as other people looked at them on the street. She was out walking with her handsome Captain in his dress uniform. He had his hand clasped in hers and it was obvious they were together.

"We don't have to go out." She told him.

She was content just walking through the streets with him. If truth be told, she would have been happy doing anything with him. The precious hours she stole away from her hospital duties to be alone with him were wonderful. No matter what they did together, she was happy.

"No, we need to go out on a normal date." He insisted as he pulled her to a small restaurant. It's owners happy to see the American GI and a pretty girl. Seating them at a little table by the window.

Arthur plucked up the menu and started speaking in French to the waiter.

Ariadne fought back a fit of laughter at hearing him try to speak French.

"What is it?" Arthur asked in amazement. Not understanding the joke.

"Your accent." She laughed helplessly. "They way you speak French, it sounds so funny." She laughed covering her mouth.

Arthur had to smile at himself.

"I'll have you know I made strait A's in French in High School and College." He told her.

"Could any of your teachers actually speak the French language?" She teased.

~ "Well, my mother and father wanted me to marry this girl back home. Her name was Linda." Arthur explained as it started to rain outside. Their dinner long gone as they were lost in conversation.

"Why didn't you?" Ariadne asked.

She could just imagine this Linda person. Some tall, curvy woman who looked like a more elegant version of Trixie. Someone who was far better suited for Arthur then her. Someone who had money and family. Someone who wasn't alone in the world.

"I couldn't stand her." Arthur confessed. "She was the most selfish girl I ever met."

Ariadne sat a little straighter. She was remembering her liking for Scarlet O'Hara's selfishness.

"Well, I mean were all selfish." She said.

"Your not." Arthur said simply. As if stating a fact.

"That's not true." She said feeling almost insulted. "I'm very selfish at times."

He laughed. A loud American laugh that made the other people in the restaurant look at them.

"Oh yes, your very selfish. Lets see, you work as a Red Cross Nurse. Devoting your entire life to helping others. You marched into a war zone just a few hours behind the troops. You work 16 hour days doing things that would make a society girl faint. You wouldn't even eat chocolate because it's unpatriotic to the war effort. Your _very_ selfish." He told her. His eyes merry and teasing.

She sighed and looked at him. Trying very hard not to smile back.

"There are times when I don't want to help people. There are times when they get on my nerves, and I just hate them. Sometimes I wish I could just leave. That I could just go back to London." She admitted.

"I wish you would." He said suddenly. His face grave.

She felt her spirits suddenly collapse. He wanted her to leave Paris?

"What?" She breathed in disbelief.

Arthur shifted and looked out the window.

"The enemy is retreating. In a few days, we will be advancing the line further in." He said gravely. His face pulling into that serious scowl she only saw in the newspaper picture she kept in her compact.

"I see." She said numbly.

He would be leaving Paris in a few days. He wouldn't see her after that.

"You would be safer in London." He told her. This country is still a war zone." He told her.

"It's my duty to go out with the troops." She said stiffly. I'm not any use to them in London. I go where I'm needed."

"Not to the front." Arthur said authoritatively. "I don't want you there."

"I've been on the front before." She told him. "I was on the beach at Normandy just a few hours after you were."

"I don't want you at the front." Arthur said his voice hard. "It's too dangerous."

"It's always dangerous." She argued. A part of her felt insulted. Hadn't she proven herself over and over that she could face anything? Hadn't she proven she capable? Hadn't she proven she wasn't afraid?

"Ariadne." He breathed. Clearly trying to calm himself.

"You know, I am perfectly capable of doing my job. I don't need your protection." She said to him stiffly.

"I can't do my job if I'm always worried about you getting killed out there. Where were going, there are rumors of camps. Not like the ones we found before." He emphasized.

"It's nothing I can't handle." She told him.

"I don't want you going there." He told her. His voice commanding.

"I'm not in the Army, _Captain_. You can't give me orders." She told him smugly.

He pulled away from her then. A deep line creasing his brow. She didn't look at him as she stood her ground.

"What do I have to do to get you to listen?" He asked. His voice frustrated yet gentle. Her Arthur returning to her.

She said nothing and looked out the window at the rain.

"Do I have to marry you to get you to obey me?" He asked suddenly.

She felt her breath hitch into her throat.

"What?" She asked in stunned disbelief.

"You won't do what I ask, no matter how much I try to tell you it's dangerous. Maybe if I married you, you would listen." He said. His eyes distracted as she could tell his mind was working out the details.

"Arthur." She whispered. Half of her surprised she even remembered his name.

"I'm sure we can find a magistrate, or minister if you prefer." He told her taking his hat off the table. As if he were ready to leave at that moment to find someone to marry them.

"Arthur, are you asking me... have you lost your mind?" She whispered. Her imagination reeling to a life with Arthur as her husband. Of a life they could share once the war was over.

"Short of having my men kidnap you and put you on a boat back to England." He said. His voice heavy with purpose.

"Arthur, that's insane. You would be court marshaled." She laughed.

"I'm a war hero. They would never do that." he told her confidently.

"Arthur." She said bringing him back down to earth.

He sighed.

"Please, just stay in Paris then." He told her as he took her hands in his. The callouses on his palms felt rough on her delicate skin.

"Arthur." She said feeling helpless to his request.

"Were going to be sending you plenty of wounded. You'll be useful. I just want you safe. I'll give you whatever you want after the war is over. We can get married, live in America. I have a law degree and a place waiting for me at my father's firm. I can give you a nice home... children. Whatever you want." He said.

She felt her heart swell to an impossible size as he made her those easy promises. A family. A real family that would be hers. A life with him where she would be loved and protected by her Captain.

She would no longer be the family member who wasn't_ real_ family. She wouldn't be the orphan, the girl in the servant's room. She would be a wife and a mother. She would never wash up in some strange place alone again.

"Alright." She said feeling her breath leave her body. Her heart so big that she didn't have any more room left to take in air.

Arthur looked relieved as she whispered she would stay in Paris.

"I would like it better if you were in London. Or better yet, New York." He told her. "But at least I won't have to worry about you getting shot or captured."

~ He walked her back to the hospital. It was still raining outside and they had to share his umbrella.

"When do you think you will have to move out?" She asked him. The rain relentless as the couple avoided puddles. Trying to keep dry.

"A few days." He said soberly. "But I'll be back. We won't lose each other, I promise."

She nodded. Still dazed by the thought of a life with her Captain. Of a life he so easily painted for her.

"We'll still have time left." He told her sadly as the rain obscured the couple from view.

No one seeing the Army Captain pulling the pretty nurse into his arms, their lips locked together as their little world was protected and safe under his umbrella.


	22. Chapter 22

22.

~ In the days before the Army would advance further into enemy territory, Arthur spent as much time as he could with his pretty nurse.

It was still too dangerous to leave Paris. New reports of hidden insurgents around the countryside came in, as more American troops were landing in France everyday.

"I wish you would reconsider going back to London." Her Captain said as his arm pulled her closer to him. Another tank rolled recklessly down the normally quite street. Little boys casing it and throwing rocks.

"I think I've made as much concession as I'll ever be willing to make on that subject." She told him with a laugh. The sudden appearance of more troops didn't make the people feel safer. If anything, it made them more afraid as the influx of soldiers scared them off the streets.

"Things are different now." Arthur said worriedly as they watched a convoy drive brazenly past.

~ "I want a picture of you." Arthur said as a local merchant was offering pictures for $5.

"Arthur, it's too much money." She protested as she wished she had thought to wear her blue dress. She could tell Arthur like that one. His eyes moving over her like she was truly beautiful whenever she wore it.

Her Captain paying the man with the simple brownie camera.

"Arthur!" She hissed as he pulled her to the impromptu setting the photographer had set up outside.

"Stand close together." The photographer instructed them in broken English. She stood a little straighter as her Captain moved his hand around her waist. His tall body behind hers as she was forced to the front of the picture.

She wasn't used to having her picture taken. Aside from a group photo of herself and the other nurses, she didn't care for the practice. She thought her eyes looked too big. Her face too wide and young looking. Photographs made her realize how others must see her. A child pretending to be a grown up.

"Smile! Smile!" the photographer sang at them. Arthur stealthily kissed her cheek. A smile flying over her face before she could stop it.

She heard the click of the brownie and looked at her Captain. His trickery knowing no bounds.

"I want another one of just her." He said paying the little man another $5.

"Arthur, please don't waste your money!" She begged as he ignored her.

"I want a nice one of her face." He told the little man in his Americanized French. His funny accent making her laugh.

"Smile! Smile!" the little man sang out again and she barely had time to give a nervous smile before the brownie snapped.

~ They had to wait a few hours before their pictures would be ready.

"I really wish you hadn't wasted your money." She told him as they walked around a quite section of the city.

"I didn't waste anything." He told her. His hand in hers as the walked.

She took a deep breath and leaned on her Captain's strong shoulder. The fabric of his uniform course under the fair skin of her cheek.

"Arthur?" She asked. Feeling little swarms of butterflies move through her belly. She bit her lip then, suddenly afraid.

"What is it?" he asked.

She wished she hadn't brought it up. Wished she hadn't said a word to him.

"Ariadne?" He asked making her look at him.

She sighed and decided there was nothing worse then a coward.

"Its just that, some of the girls talk about how they go with their guys to... to a hotel. Before they have to leave. They spent time... alone together there." She said feebly.

Arthur stopped walking.

"Have you ever gone to a hotel with a guy?" He asked. His voice stony and cold.

"No." She said in shock.

"You know what they do in those places? When men and women are alone together?" He asked her.

"Yes." She said flushing red with embarrassment.

"Don't you think if I wanted a girl to go to a hotel with me, I could find one?" He asked.

She suddenly felt ashamed of herself. Ashamed that she had even suggested it. The whole thing made her sound so cheap and easy. She had practically asked to become the kind of girl that got whispered about.

Then, her Captain was there. His strong hands taking hers. His eyes gentle and kind.

"That's not how I want things to be with us." He said softly.

"How do you want things to be with us?" She asked.

"I don't want a girl who would go to a hotel room with me. I want a lot more then that." He said.

She found herself nodding as her Captain alleviated all her fears with his kiss.

~ They picked up their pictures an hour later. The photographer make two copies of the one of them together. Ariadne thought she looked strange and her facial features were out of proportion. By contrast, Arthur looked like the dashing war hero he was. The ribbons on his uniform distinguishing him from all others as the happy couple was suspended in the sepia world.

Arthur seemed delighted with the photographs. Giving her a copy of the two of them together, and keeping the other one for himself. The one of her alone, he looked at for a long time.

"It looks hideous." She said. Not understanding what he saw in it.

"You and I have a very different idea about what is _hideous_." He said. Tucking her picture away in his breast pocket.

"Now I have a picture of my sweetheart to show off." He said.

"Am I your sweetheart?" She asked hopefully. Her heart drumming a dancing beat.

He leaned over and kissed her.

"Of course you are." he said.

~ He walked her back to her hospital. Her Captain looking sad as she asked him if he would see her again tomorrow. A cold chill in the air as winter winds kissed the city.

"Were moving out tomorrow." He told her. His voice grave as his eyes lingered over her face.

She stopped breathing.

"I thought... I thought there would be a few more days." She said. A feeling like a knife in her heart was starting to twist.

Her Captain shook his head.

"Got the word this morning. I'll be joining the 6th. We move out at dawn." He said. His voice sounding uncomfortable.

"Arthur." She whispered as she fought back tears. She wanted those few extra days with her Captain. Even if they did nothing more then talk.

"I'm sorry." He said sensing her disappointment.

"When will you be back?" She asked him.

"I can't know for sure, but I will be back." He promised. His eyes locking with hers.

She tried to steel herself. Tried to look brave as the man she loved was going into battle.

"Were not losing each other, remember?" He whispered as his lips tasted hers. That wonderful feel of his kiss making her head swim.

She felt tears burn her eyes as he pulled away from her. His handkerchief coming out and dabbing at her eyes.

"Please don't cry." He whispered. "I promise, I'll come back to you."

"You can't know that." She cried. "You can't know that for sure."

"I _will_ come back." He promised.

He was peppering her brow with little kisses.

"I love you too much to not come back for you." He whispered.

~ Ariadne barely slept that night. The knowledge of her Captain leaving in the morning haunted her. She had her small bag packed. Just her two nurse's dresses, as well as her nursing supplies were in it. She wasn't allowed much else for her trip to the front. The only thing on the night stand now was her compact with Arthur's picture in it. She intended to keep that on her at all times.

~ When morning came, she left her dormitory and went with the other nurses who would be going to the front with her. She had promised Arthur she wouldn't, but he needed her there. If he was hurt, she had to be there. She had to make sure he was taken care of and didn't trust anyone but herself to do it.

When Doctor Kikie had asked for volunteer nurses to follow the Army, she had been the first to sign up. Despite her promise to Arthur.

In the waiting truck, Ariadne helped the nurses pack supplies in so tightly, there was hardly any room left for the medical staff to get in. They road in the back with Doctor Kikie. The roads out of Paris so rough, they bounced her on the floor.

'_I'm coming Arthur._' She thought with a secretive smile.

~ Arthur was happy Ariadne wasn't here to see this. It had been a long, tiring drive out of Paris as the Army met with constant fire. Dregs of the enemy had been left behind and Arthur could see why they had taken most of Europe so easily. The Nazis were impressive in their tanks and cold, ruthless attacks.

Even as the Third Rich lay dieing, it was still a fearsome animal.

~ The camp wasn't what he was expecting at all. It was a large plot of land that stood empty and desolate five hours outside of Paris.

This place was not intended to hold prisoners until the war was over or they were released. This was a place where prisoners were sent to work and die.

"The locals tell us the SS marched what was left of the prisoners out last month." Major Cobb told him. "This camp was mainly used to house resistance fighters who were captured."

"They didn't hold them for very long." Arthur grumbled as he and the skinny Privet looked over a small stove hidden in a basement.

"Strange oven, Sir." The privet said as the cold of winter seeped into the dark basement.

"It's an incinerator, Privet." Arthur said curtly. "For burning up bodies."

~ The camp had been abandoned as French and American troops roamed over the remains of buildings and unanswered questions. Arthur had to write down every detail about what he saw there. The strange oven, the basement autopsy room. A small chamber with pipes running into it and no water. Cobb said they needed to collect evident of war crimes for the trials.

Arthur wondered what good a trial would do at this point. No punishment could atone the abominations done here.

~ That night, as it started to snow again, he wrote his report and tried to block out the whispered gossip about how the Jewish prisoners were gassed. Their bodies reduced to skeletons so their bones could be examined by the racially superior.

The Allied Army had settled just outside of what was left of the Nazi death camp. Something about that place was too haunted. The ground still too raw with evil. No man wanted to venture into it after dark.


	23. Chapter 23

23.

~ Shouting. There was always shouting with the American Army. That was how they talked when they wanted something done. They never asked nicely, never lowered their voices. It was shouting, shouting, shouting till the thing got done.

Ariadne had ridden in the back of the supply truck for hours before they finally made a stop at a small village.

She was expecting to see another group of prisoners like the ones Arthur had left in the chapel. But the Army Corporal said their were none left.

"We need to inspect the camp." Ariadne told him defiantly.

"You don't understand, Ma'am." The Corporal shouted even though he was barely a foot away. "There isn't anyone left in the camp."

"What happened to the prisoners?" She asked.

"The ones who weren't killed were marched out." He told her as snow fell on the make shift medical tents.

Ariadne stared in wide eyed wonder as the Army Corporal walked away. There was no one left to save. They were too late.

~ There was still work to be done. All around the area were half starved people. Most of them needing medical care as winter was approaching. She found herself feeling useful and almost happy as she told the villagers, in French, about the Allied troops beating Hitler back.

The stories the locals told her about the enemy her made her feel a coldness creep into her bones that had nothing to do with the weather.

~ Mercifully, they stayed a few days behind the Army's advancement. News of more fighting was still evident as wounded soldiers were sent back for treatment. Ariadne looked for her Captain with each new arrival.

She worried about him as they could hear gun fire in the mountains. She worried Arthur was hurt and unable to move. She feared he was already dead.

~ As the Army advance forward, so did the small band of nurses and doctors. Everyday, there was wounded. Every night, there was the sound of gun fire and shelling.

Finally, they reached a small village and stopped for several days. Ariadne was able to take a hot bath and clean her clothes. It had been forever since she had a real roof over her head. An old inn had been requisitioned for the nurses and doctors to use.

The environment outside the inn was hostile. Everywhere there were soldiers. All of them angry and tired looking.

"I don't know what's worse, the enemy, or our boys." On of the nurses said as Ariadne put on a clean night gown.

She had to agree with the nurse on that matter. Their own soldiers looked frighting. The nurses were told never to leave the inn or the medical tents. That the wounded would be brought to them. The soldiers around them shouting all the time as the air was cold and it rained everyday.

There was always wounded now. Always covered in mud and many of them dieing of hypothermia before they could be treated for bullet wounds.

Ariadne sighed and crawled into her bed. She looked at her Captain's picture in her compact before snapping it shut to go to sleep. His face following her down into her dreams.

~ "Nurse!" A shout came one morning as Ariadne was helping Doctor Kikie. The older man had aged years in just the few months they had been in France. She could see he might not last much longer like this. His hands were shaking and he became winded so easily. The rigorous hours and stress were causing the older man to falter in his skills.

Ariadne scowled as she didn't want to be pulled away from helping the Doctor. He seemed to rely on her more and more these days.

"Nurse!" A man's shouts came out of the tent again.

"Just go." Doctor Kikie said as, with shaking hands, he stitched a large gash in a young man's leg.

Angry she had to leave Doctor Kikie, Ariadne stormed out of the tent.

"What is it?" She almost barked at the two officer's holding up an injured young man. His uniform covered in blood and the smell of burned flesh reaching her.

The wound caught her eye and she instantly forgot her anger. His chest and uniform had been burned and shards of metal peppered the wound.

"Take him inside, put him on the table." She told the two men carrying him. When they didn't move, her anger roused again. Too many days spent traveling in the cold and in the wet had hardened her kindness.  
She looked up at the officers, ready to yell at them now when she sucked in her breath at recognition. Arthur, her Captain, was staring back at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.

~ The other officer was unknown to her and looked worriedly between the Captain and the exhausted nurse.

"Put... put him on the gurney, Captain." She said feebly as Arthur's face pulled into a menacing scowl.

Her Captain said nothing as they helped the wounded man on a door that sat on two saw horses. The best they could do for a hospital table here.  
"What happened to him?" Ariadne asked as she cut away the burned and bloodied uniform.  
Arthur said nothing as she was aware of his eyes boring into her. She tried to ignore him, but it was difficult as she felt his anger radiate. Her stomach twisting into knots as the feeling she was in trouble made her nervous.

"Landmine." The other officer said. "Why we had to halt the advancement. Their everywhere."

She looked over the burns and pieces of shrapnel cutting into the young man.  
"How many more are like this?" She asked.

"He's the only one to not get killed." The other officer said as Arthur's eyes still burned the back of her neck.

"He'll need surgery." Ariadne said dryly as she ignored Arthur and went to get Doctor Kikie.

~ "Mines?" The Doctor said as she told him about the soldier. His hands were shaking as he seemed to not understand.  
"Doctor, are you alright?" She asked him. He looked so tired. He was sweating and pale.

"I'll be right there." He whispered to her as he let another nurse put clean dressing on the young man with the large gash. "Start the procedure without me. You've seen me do it enough times. Be careful about any arterial injuries."

Ariadne nodded numbly and went back to the young man. Arthur's eyes were still blazing on her and she felt her pulse quicken in a way that almost made her afraid. She felt her spine straighten as she told the two officers that the Doctor would be there shortly and that they would do all they could.

"Lieutenant, you go back outside. I'll stay and help the nurse here." Arthur said in a dangerous tone that made Ariadne wish the other officer wouldn't leave.

"Yes, Sir." Was all the Lieutenant said before leaving the couple alone.

~ Arthur said nothing as he helped her to cut away any fabric off the young man's wounds. The poor soldier moaning slightly as she tried to carefully cut the singed material free.  
"Keep an eye on his breathing, Captain." Ariadne told Arthur as she readied a syringe of morphine.

Her Captain nodded and had to turn away as she began to cut around wounds and frightful pieces of metal. Her careful removal of the shrapnel was clean and efficient as she told Arthur to put pressure on any fresh bleeding that sprang up. Happy to see that most of the wounds were superficial. Most of the burns would heal.

"Maybe when the war is over you should think about going to medical school, Nurse." He said.

Obviously impressed at her skill.

"I was actually thinking about be getting married after the war is over, Captain." She told him coolly. A small smile playing over her lips as she knew his anger was cooling slightly.

"Well, that's good to hear." The Captain said, playing along. "I don't think your husband to-be would mind having a doctor for a wife. He's very open minded about such things."

"Not about everything, Captain. You'd be surprised at the things he says I can't do." She told him.

Arthur looked at her. His eyes not amused.

Ariadne took a deep breath and concentrated on removing the shrapnel.

"_Shouldn't_ do. There's a difference." He whispered at last.

~ They said nothing as he helped her dress the wounds. Ariadne giving the young man a shot of penicillin for the infection.

"Will he live?" Arthur asked. The Officer in him back as he remembered that they were in a war zone and the girl he dreamed into life was only a few miles from the dangers of the front.

"I think so. Infection is still a problem. He can leave on the next transport out. It'll be here in a few hours." She said pulling off her gloves and not meeting his eyes.

"Good. I want you on that transport to." He said. Images of her leaving this horrible wasteland made him happy. Thinking of her mad at him, but safely back in Paris, made the tightness in his chest relax a little.

"No." She told him simply.  
"What do you mean _no_?" Arthur almost barked at her.

"I told you before, I'm not in the Army. I don't take orders from you." She said returning to her duties.

"It's up to the Army to clear any area before your people can come in." Arthur argued as he followed her further into the large medical tent. It's canvas walls lined with make shift tables. Wounded men laying on them with dirty bandages. Worn out nurses bandaging them again.

"This area has been cleared." She said simply as she moved further away from him.

"Listen to me." He hissed pulling her by the arm. Her small body having no choice but to snap back into his. His hands and arms so strong as he held her in a hard grip.

"It's not safe here." He said softly in her ear. His eyes searching hers for understanding. "This is why I didn't want you to come to the front."  
"This is where I'm needed, _Captain_." She said. Calling him by his rank in a stiff professional manner. Arthur slacked his grip on her as she met his eyes and didn't flinch.

The couple engaged in a staring contest that tested both their bravery.

Finally, he let her go and stormed out of the tent. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief until she heard her Captain shouting to some privet outside.

Arthur returned to the tent with a scared looking Privet, barely 18 years old.

"You stay with these nurses. Make sure this one gets on the transport with the wounded. See to it she gets back to Paris. Then come back." Arthur said pointing at the Senior Nurse but not looking at her.

"Yes, Sir." The child soldier said.

"Arthur!" Ariadne snapped at her Captain as he stalked out of the tent on his long legs.

She had to run to catch up to him.

"I am not leaving and you can't make me!" She almost cried as the cold, sharp air hit her face.  
"I actually can." Arthur said curtly as he turned around to face her. "You and your unit have done a fine job but relief will be here any day now."

"You don't have the authority." Ariadne said. She had never hated him more then at this moment. A feeling of helplessness coming over her that she swore never to feel again.  
"My Colonel does, and he will agree with me." Arthur said looking at her as if she were just a nurse, and nothing more. His manners purely militant and unflinching.

"I want to speak to him. I want to speak with Colonel Burch." Ariadne said feeling tears spring into her eyes.

The child soldier stood a few feet away from them. Unsure what to do. Not willing to disobey his Captain's orders.

"Colonel Burch and Major Cobb are both busy. I'm in command of the unit till they are available." Arthur said. His voice that of a military leader, not the man who brought her wild flowers and took her to the movies. Who gave her chocolate in a field of dieing flowers.  
"You can't do this!" Ariadne cried as he walked away from her.


	24. Chapter 24

24.

~ "If your going to stay here, you have to be useful." Ariadne said angrily to the child soldier who Arthur had appointed as her guard.

"Ma'am, I don't know anything about treating the wounded." He said with wide, scared eyes as he watched the battered nurses clean up blood and shout at still more soldiers to be moved.

"You had first aide training." Ariadne assured him as the young man followed her around like a puppy.

"Yes, but not like this." He said. "Besides, the Captain told me to stay with you. To make sure you leave. The shelling is getting closer, we can't stay here much longer."

"Privet, we don't have the man power for you to baby sit me." Ariadne said feeling suddenly stronger.

Her anger at Arthur making the steel in her cut down anything in it's path.

"Now, help that nurse change the dressing and then take those wounded men to the recovery tent." She told him in the swift, efficient voice she normally only heard the Matron use.

~ The day stretched onward as they nurses could hear shelling marching closer.  
"The Nazis are fight back." Doctor Kikie said as he rested outside. Ariadne still had her child soldier staying close behind her. The mood in the Allied camp had changed. They were packing trucks and jeeps.

"Were going to have to retreat." Doctor Kikie said worriedly as he nodded to a group of nervous looking soldiers.  
"Because of the mines?" Ariadne said not able to find Arthur in the sea of faces.

Another boom sounded far away. Was her Captain there? Was he being fired at?

"Not just because of the mines, their going to start shelling the camp pretty soon. We need to be prepared to leave." The older man said.

Ariadne looked at Doctor Kikie. His skin was waxen and he was sweating. His neck and face was red and he was breathing hard.

"Doctor, are you alright?" She asked.

He nodded and brushed off her attempts to check his pulse.

"Privet." Ariadne said pulling her child soldier with her. He still looked worried as even he knew what the ominous thunder like sounds in the distance meant. How eerily silent the camp was becoming with the approaching giant.  
"Yes, Ma'am?" He said happy that they might leave soon.

"The Captain wants you to take Doctor Kikie back to Paris with you. Make sure he gets on that transport." Ariadne said in her calmest, most steadfast tone. The voice she used when she was trying to keep someone calm. A voice that said 'you can trust me'.

"Ma'am, the Captain said for _you_ to get onto the transport." The child soldier said.

"The Captain didn't know the Doctor was so sick. It's more important that he gets out." Ariadne said. "I can wait. The shelling is still far away."

"Ma'am." The soldier said. His eyes wide and frightened. Afraid of the enemy or his Captain's wrath if he disobeyed orders, she wasn't sure.

"Just do it." She told him.

~ Three trucks came to pick up the wounded as the shelling marched closer and closer. Doctor Kikie was still able to stand up and walk around, but he didn't look well and his hands shook too much. Ariadne had to do most of his work for him as he instructed that the tent be abandoned and the wounded loaded.

"You have to come with me, Ma'am!" The child soldier said trying to pull her onto a truck.

"Is the Doctor on?" She shouted as she could feel the earth tremble as bombs were hitting the ground barely a mile away.  
"Yes! We have to go!" The young man said as the Army was shouting for them to leave. There was still wounded in the tents. Men who there was no room for in the trucks. Who she was forced to leave behind as the giant marched towards them.  
"Were retreating! What are you people still doing here!" A soldier yelled at her.

As she felt a bomb hit closer to the camp, she had to stay and help load the rest of the wounded.

The trucks were groaning and over loaded with injured men as she felt the child soldier pull her away from a wounded man, still waiting to be evacuated.

"We have to go!" The Privet shouted at her.

She heard a whistling then and both of them froze in the strange calm before the bomb hit.

Ariadne didn't react to the bomb hitting so close to her. She was looking at the young man Arthur had sent to guard her. He looked back at her as they both knew they had waited too long.

The bomb hit.

Right before her eyes, the young man was reduced to little more then blood, meat and bones. The impact of the bomb knocking Ariadne off her feet as mud and the privet's blood covered her in a warm, sticky paste.

Instinctively, she tried to wipe it off. She could feel the obliterated Privet's body heat still on his blood as it was now covering her. Her hands trying to clean the mud off her face, only to streak his blood on her even more.

She didn't cry or panic as she stumbled to her feet. The shelling struck so close to her, it rendered her world silent except for a piercing whistle. She walked a few feet in a confused daze. Covered in the child soldier's blood.

She felt, rather that heard the next bomb quiver under her feet. It threw her to the ground again, as the earth opened up and she could feel a sharp pain radiate through her leg.

'_I wasn't fast enough._' She thought before her world turned to blackness.

~ "Were retreating!" Arthur shouted as he saw the last few trucks roar into life. He saw the red cross tent was all but empty now as the bombing picked up speed. The impact with earth making the ground shutter under his feet.

'_At least she got out._' Arthur thought as the last of his men climbed on a crowded truck.

Shouting pulled him away from his men as he saw a familiar Doctor stumble out of another truck.

"Ariadne!" The older man shouted.

Arthur stopped cold and felt his breath become tight. He ran on unsteady legs as the shelling hit closer and closer. The Captain ignoring them as he ran.

He saw a human being in the mud. A nurse, her small body stained with dark blood and earth as she lay broken on the ground.  
"Ariadne. Oh God, no." He panted at seeing her.

~ She dreamed of Arthur. Of them sitting in a field and eating chocolate. Of spring still in the air as she still held out hope that the Family was still alive. She dreamed he was kissing her and telling her he loved her. She dreamed she wore her blue dress and he looked at her as though she were beautiful.

"Hold still." Arthur said in the dream as the air turned bitterly cold. The color from their field became washed out and gray as the dream collapsed and fell away. Replaced with reality.

"Ariadne, just hold on." Arthur said as she felt his strong hands held her.

~ Shouting. There was always shouting. She realized she was in the back of a moving truck and it was lurching across an unsteady road.

"Leg's broken." Doctor Kikie's voice reached her as she could feel hands on her.

She didn't want to open her eyes. The image of their field washing away as if were never a real thing.  
"Ariadne? Can you hear me?" Arthur's voice came back to her.

Finally, she opened her eyes to see her Captain. He was covered in mud. His hair messed up and she was leaning against him.

"Arthur?" She whispered and then screamed as she could feel the pain from her leg.  
"We have to set it." Doctor Kikie said.

"We need to pull over!" Arthur shouted as Ariadne grasped firmly to Arthur's arms. He was her lifeline. If she let him go, she might drown in the sea of pain she was feeling.

"The bombing is gaining on us, Son." Doctor Kikie said calmly. His voice and hands were steady for one. "I can do it. Just hold her steady."

She felt Arthur's hands wrap tightly around her as she barely understood what they were saying. She chanced a look down at her body. She was sitting on a stretcher as Doctor Kikie had her dress up and her leg exposed. Through her own dark blood, she saw bone protruding out of her leg.

"Oh God!" She whimpered as she buried her head in Arthur's shoulder.

She wished she hadn't looked as she could feel Doctor Kikie's hands probe around her leg.

"No!" She screamed as the pain felt too intense. "Don't don't do it!"

"Hold her!" Doctor Kikie shouted over her cries. She felt Arthur tighten hold of her and felt Doctor Kikie snap her bone back into place.

The sound of it, and the pain, made her lose herself into a deep well of blackness. She fell back into the field again. Spring time was in the air as he kissed her, made love to her and she was far away from this nightmare.

~ It was night by the time the convoy made it back to the hospital. Ariadne had passed out again when the Doctor reset her leg. He had given her a shot for the pain and she faded in and out of sleep as Arthur cradled her in his arms.

It had been a defeat against the enemy. The Nazis had put up landmines across the area and they had lost so many men. So many bodies blown up as the enemy fled and began shelling the advancement from a safe distance.

They had no choice but to retreat as the enemy brazenly marched towards them. Protected by their landmines and their big guns hitting the wounded. Arthur and his men couldn't reach them from across the mines. Couldn't even put a dent in the enemy.

Finally, Colonel Burch had enough.

"We have to fall back. We have too many wounded." He growled and Cobb ordered the retreat.

Arthur hated to give up. So many days of victory, this felt like a failure. He hadn't felt like this since Normandy.

The trucks pulled up to the hospital where a sea of nurses in white caps and white aprons were waiting for them.

"I have her." Arthur whispered to the blond nurse who gasped at seeing Ariadne.

"Prep surgical." The doctor said. His face red and he was looking a little winded.

"Doctor Kikie, are you alright?" The blond nurse asked.

"Fine. I need to check her leg. Prepare Ex-Ray." He grumbled as Arthur carried his broken nurse in to a separate exam room that was used for women only. Far away from the men.

"Will she live?" Arthur asked carefully laying her down on a table and smoothing back her hair and dress.

He didn't know what to do. How to help. In battle, he knew what to do. Now, with her body like this. He felt very afraid.

"She will." Doctor Kikie said as if bored. The blond nurse checking her vitals.

"I'll be back." Arthur said as his sweetheart looked to be in good hands.

~ "Go back?" Colonel Burch barked at the Captain. "Son, this not the time for stupid ideas."

"Sir, we left over a dozen wounded back there. We couldn't fit them all into the trucks. We can't leave them behind."

The Colonel stood a little straighter and looked angry.

"You understand that the enemy is retaking the ground." Colonel Burch said in a softer voice. "That you could be captured or killed trying to save men who are already dead?"

"Yes, sir. I do." Arthur said softy.

"You take volunteers only. No more then five men." Burch said.

"Five?" Arthur stammered. He needed more.

"Less for you to keep track of. Your only going after wounded." Burch told him.

Arthur easily found five able bodied men who were willing to go back with him. All he had to do was walk onto the lawn and tell them what the plan was.

Cobb had a fresh truck ready for him and a radio.

"Air strike will be moving in soon." Cobb whispered. "Going to take a few hours. Make sure your out of there before dawn."

"Ariadne is hurt." Arthur told him. "Look after her?"

Cobb nodded.

~ What was he doing? He was his parents only surviving son. His father had begged him not to get killed in this place. He could feel the ghosts of his brothers wash over him as he drove a deserted road with no headlights on.

David was smiling. It was a great adventure.

'_Of course you save your men, Little Brother._' He whispered into Arthur's ear. '_That's what a real soldier dose._'

'_Be careful, Arthur._' Was Jacob's advice. '_If you were lost, so many people would be hurt._'

Arthur nodded and drove on.

~ The deserted camp was eerie and full of ghosts. Just a few hours ago, it had teamed with life as the shelling had now taken a merciful break.

"Spread out." Arthur hissed to his men.

In just a few minuets they found almost eight wounded soldiers.

Arthur had been rudely snapped out of that victory as a Nazi scout jumped out of the bushes and tried to shoot him.

They hid in the forest and shot at the rescue party. Arthur and the skinny privet providing cover fire against the enemy.

It would haunt Arthur that there could have been more wounded men in need of rescue, but they couldn't stay here. The enemy was taking back this former strong hold. They were sneaking through the forest like snakes in the grass. They had no choice but to retreat. Dawn was coming.

~ Arthur was so tired as he tried to stay awake and focused on the road. They had saved about a dozen men and he hadn't lost any of his rescue party.

~ When they finally pulled into the hospital, the Colonel greeted him with a rare smile.

"Almost gave up on you, Son." He said. He pulled Arthur a little closer. "I would have hated to lose you."

The Colonel was pleased so many men had been brought back. That no one from the rescue team had even been hurt.

"I know your tired, but I think you may want to see this." The Colonel said handing the Captain some binoculars.

The stood on the roof of the hospital. From there, they could see the ridge of trees become a fire storm as planes dropped bombs over it.

"Never seen bombs do that before." Arthur said.

It was as if God waved a hand over the trees and made them into fire.

"Something our boys back home have been cooking up. Warfare is changing. Soon enough, we won't need men like you and me." He explained. "All those egg heads will have to do is push a button and destroy the world."

~ Arthur was so tired that he almost collapsed in the barracks. He didn't even shower or change out of his dirty fatigues as Cobb told him Ariadne had been operated on and that she would be alright.

The Captain dreamed of being with Ariadne in a field. The two of them picnicking when suddenly the field was set on fire. Cast down on them, not by God, but by someone who wanted to destroy the world.


	25. Chapter 25

25.

~ She slept for a long time. She knew she had been medicated because it felt like she wanted to wake up, but couldn't. The drugs kept pulling her back under into a world where she washed up on some strange shore. Only now she was truly alone in this desolate, empty place. No one was there to help her or guide her out.

She finally surfaced long enough to open her eyes. The pain in her leg forcing her her out of that lonely place.

Her hospital room was dimly lit. Her body felt too heavy. As if it might crash through the bed. Even her eye lids felt heavy as she could feel the tide wanting to pull her back under and wash her back into the land of dreams.

She vaguely processed that she was alone in a privet room. That there was a figure by her bedside. That his long, lean frame was sitting in a chair and his head and chest was resting on her bed. Trying to sleep in some type of comfort.

She wanted to run a hand over the head of this stranger. A man, a soldier with dark hair. A man she didn't know. She tried to lift her hand but it was too heavy.

"Arthur?" She called out in a horse whisper. For lack of any other words that came to mind.

The soldier's head snapped up. Roused from his own sleep as he looked relieved.

"Ariadne." He sighed as he took her hand in his. His face coming into view.

"Arthur." She cried as she recognized him. "I... I wasn't fast enough."

"It's alright. Your safe now." He whispered as his lips pressed against her forehead.

She asked for water and he gently fed her small sips from a cup.

"My leg hurts." She whimpered. Trying not to cry as Arthur called for a nurse.

Then, she could feel the tide pulling her back into sleep again. Feel her mind leave her body as she washed up on that strange shore again. Arthur fading from her as she let herself become lost in a desolate, empty city.

~It had been a simple ceremony. Arthur received his new rank as well as the distinguished service cross. He was awarded another purple heart and even the bronze star for going after the wounded.

His skinny privet was now a skinny Corporal. The small young man looked pleased with his own medals for valor.  
"Sorry your girl isn't here to see this." Cobb said patting him on the back. "Still sleeping?"

"She came out of it last night for a little while." Arthur sighed.

"Well, at least she's still alive." Cobb said to the new Major.

"She's going back to London. Doctor Kikie signed the order before he went home. His heart was giving him problems."

"That's good. It's what you wanted." Cobb said as the two men walked back to the hospital. These days, when Arthur wasn't on duty, he was at his nurse's side. Her heavy sleep keeping her far away from him.

"I guess." Arthur said sadly. He hoped she would wake up before she was shipped back to London.

He wanted her in London. It would be safer. The war was too close here. But he didn't like the idea of not seeing her again. He had to do something.

** Dear Beth.**

** I am sorry I have not written in so long.**

** Please tell Mother and Dad that I'm alright.**

** I got another promotion.**

** I'm a Major now. **

** Don't tell Mother or Dad.**

** I've met a girl.**

** I plan to ask her to marry me.**

** Arthur. **

~ It was morning when she heard Trixie singing and telling her to wake up.  
Ariadne still felt exhausted and her body seemed too heavy to move.

"Wake up." Trixie said brightly. "You've been snoozing for three days now. You've missed a lot." The American girl coaxed her out of sleep.

"What happened?" Ariadne said as she realized she was in a bright hospital room. She was the room's only occupant and found even her lungs felt heavy from the pain medication. Her breaths a struggle as Trixie helped her to sit up.

"A bomb almost hit you." Trixie said simply. "Broke your leg. Doctor Kikie had to set it right there in the truck as the Army was pulling out."

"We retreated." Ariadne said lazily as she heard Trixie prepare a warm bed bath for her.

"For now. Your Major was here." Trixie said.  
"My _Major_?" Ariadne asked stupidly as Trixie washed her body in warm, soapy water. Ariadne felt weak as a kitten. She could barely hold her arm up as Trixie washer her and dried her skin. Could barely roll over as her nurse remade the bed with her in it. A large, cumbersome white cast was encasing her leg and weighed her down. A dull pain radiating through her leg as she tried to move her body. The cast hindering her every move. Ariadne's hand went to the cast and she stupidly tried to peel it off.

"Doctor Kikie said it needs to stay on for a few more weeks. Maybe a few months." Trixie said. "It looked like a clean break. No infection which is lucky."

"Is Doctor Kikie alright?" Ariadne said as her memory brought back the image of the older man looking so sick.  
"He wasn't doing well for a while. But he's much better now." Trixie said simply. "He's already gone back to London."  
Ariadne leaned back in her clean bedding as soon as Trixie put a fresh night gown on her.  
"Are you hungry?" She asked.

"Starved." Ariadne said sadly. Part of her glad Doctor Kikie was alright, the other part of her, sad he wasn't here with her anymore.  
"Good. I think your Major is bringing you up a tray." Trixie said with a pleased little smile. "He's been here all day. You kept waking up and then fall asleep again."

"My _Major_?" Ariadne said. Her mind still confused from the drugs.

"Arthur." Trixie said with a smile. "You slept right through his promotion ceremony and everything. He got another purple heart, the cross and a bronze star. He's a real war hero."

Now she remembered. Now she remembered how he had held her in that truck as Doctor Kikie set her broken leg. How he had wanted her to leave on the transport well before the bombing. She remembered the child soldier and how his blood felt on her face when that bomb hit.

"Trixie!" Ariadne almost shouted. "My compact. I keep it in my dress pocket."

"Right here." Trixie said going to a little night stand and pulling open a drawer. She gave Ariadne her silver compact and Ariadne was relived to see Arthur's picture was still safely tucked inside. His handsome face greeting her with an angry scowl.

"It was so romantic." Trixie said with a sigh. "He carried you from the truck right into the triage room so the doctor's here could x-ray you leg and put it in a cast. He made sure you would live before going back for the ones they had to leave behind."

"He went _back_?" Ariadne gasped at the thought of it. That cold wasteland with monsters creeping closer and closer. Their heavy footsteps like giants marching to them.

She snapped her compact closed and clutched it tighter.

Trixie nodded and looked dreamily out the window.

"He saved over a dozen men. Colonel Burch was about ready to give him up for dead when he pulls back into the hospital. He was so tired he almost fell asleep on his feet. The first thing he wanted to know, was if you were alright." She said.

"He was here." Ariadne said putting a hand on her bed. The place Arthur had rested his head as she dreamed of some strange, forgotten place. She had been safe in her own dreams as he went back into the lion's den to save those they had to leave behind.

"He never wanted to leave your bedside. It was more romantic then Rhett and Scarlet!" Trixie said excitedly as she brushed and pinned Ariadne's hair.

"Wish I hadn't slept through the whole thing." Ariadne said feeling a growl of hunger go off in her stomach.

"That makes two of us." Arthur's voice came from the doorway.

Both women were startled from their secretive talk and Ariadne felt here eyes grow wide at the sight of her newly christened Major.


	26. Chapter 26

25.

~ The new rank suited him. The ribbons on his chest were more plentiful. The gold leafs on his lapels caught the light as he carried her breakfast tray in to her.

He looked dashing in his dress uniform as Trixie scurried past him.

"Major." She said with a little curtsey and fled the privet recovery room, closing the door after her. Leaving them alone.

Ariadne felt herself gulping. Almost afraid of this intimidating man that had taken the shape of her Captain.

"How do you feel?" Arthur asked as he set her tray down over her lap. The smell of eggs and oatmeal hitting her and her stomach growled.

"Hungry." She admitted as she couldn't wait for politeness to start eating.

He chuckled as he pulled up a small chair next to her bed. The eggs melted in her mouth as she tried to remember to eat slowly. She hadn't eaten in days and she didn't want to make herself sick. She was still hungry as she finished the last of her oatmeal.

Arthur watching her steadily as she wished she had more to eat.  
"Trixie told me about your promotion." Ariadne said as she nibbled on her toast with mouse like bites. Wanting to make it last. "I'm sorry I slept through it."  
"You had a good excuse." Arthur said with a faint smile.

"Did they tell you that I'll be in this cast for a while?" She said filled with self pity.

"Doctor Kikie said you won't be dancing anytime soon." Her Major said sadly. "But he was certain you would live. I wouldn't have left you if I thought you weren't going to make it."

"You went back for those men." Ariadne said.

He nodded.

"That was dangerous." She told him.

He nodded again and didn't look at her.

"I was careful." He told her.

"What if you had died?" She whispered.

"I didn't." He said simply.

"You could have. Where would that have left me?" She asked thinking of herself all alone again.

"About the same as I would be if that bomb had killed you instead of just broken you leg." He said effectively ending the discussion.

She bit her lip and didn't dare say anything more. He wasn't mad at her for going to the front. Her injury was enough to break that out of him. Likewise, she couldn't be mad at him for going back to save those men they had to leave behind.

"I guess, with my leg, I'll be going back to London." She said sadly. "Means I'm out of this war."

It felt like Christmas had been canceled. She wanted to cry but couldn't summon the strength to do it. The career she had worked so hard for would be put on hold until she was better.

She felt Arthur's calloused hand graze over her own. Felt his finger's entwine with hers.

"My leg hurts." She said childishly.

"I'll get your nurse." He said standing to leave her.

"Arthur?" She called out just as he was at the door.

He turned back to her. He looked so impossibly handsome just then, she wanted to run into his arms.

"Thank you." Was all she said.

"For what?" He asked.

"For not saying 'I told you so'." She answered as tears fell out of her eyes.

His handkerchief was out again. Dabbing at her eyes.

"I'll be back tonight." He promised.

~ He was back later that evening. He brought her dinner tray with him, and a surprise.

"Chocolate cake!" She exclaimed.  
"Well, for the lady who braved the front and came back injured, how can I do less?" He said with a smile.

"I haven't had cake since before the war." She sang out feeling happy for the first time that day. "Can I eat it first?" She asked him with wide eyes. Half of her afraid he might say no.

"Well, I _would_ tell you what you can and can't do, but we both know that wont work." He teased.

He helped her to sit up straighter. She winced at the pain that shot through her leg as the heavy cast was too much for her to move on her own.

She shoved a fork full of cake in her mouth and her eyes fluttered as the taste hit her. Perhaps it was so long without, but it was the best cake she had ever eaten. Like the chocolate bar at their picnic, her brain was magically satiated by the confection.

"All I keep hearing from the other nurses is how heroic and handsome you are." She finally told him as she made sure not a crumb was left of her cake. "Better then Rhett Butler."

"Did you tell them I was taken?" He asked mildly amused.

She felt her lips tug into a smile as she tried to look indifferent.

"Why ruin their dreams?" She said as she gazed over her dinner. She breathed in the heavenly smell of pork and mashed potatoes.

"I've never been so hungry in my life." She said as she sopped up the last remnants of her meal with a roll.

"Well, you were asleep for a long time." Arthur said pleased to see her appetite was healthy.  
"You were there when the Doctor was setting my leg." She told him. "I kept screaming." She said feeling embarrassed.

She looked at Arthur. Her Major was lost in his own thoughts.

"I was the one who put you in the truck. I thought you were dead. Laying there in the mud like that." He said. A sharpness to his voice as his eyes suddenly looked angry.

She was filled with a real sense of guilt. Arthur had already lost so much in this war. His brothers and countless men under his command. She felt so selfish for going to the front and putting herself in danger like she had.

Arthur shook his head.  
"Let's not talk about it anymore." He said. Releasing her of any guilt.

~ The sun set and night reclaimed the sky, if only for a few hours. The couple had talked late into the evening.  
"The Doctor wants to ship you out next week to London." He told her.

"You'll be staying in Paris then?" She asked. He nodded.

She looked down at her hands.

"So, I might not see you again." She said sadly.

"What did I say before I went to the front?" He asked growing angry. "I told you we won't lose each other." he said.

His voice was so stern, so commanding, that she couldn't help but nod.

Arthur looked at his watch.  
"It's almost midnight. I had better let you get some rest." He said standing up.

"No, Arthur." She said garbing his hand. Her arms still felt weak from her long sleep. "Please, don't go. Stay with me tonight."

Arthur looked from her, to the door. It was closed, but there were no locks on any of the patient doors.

"Ariadne." He said in a soft groan.  
"Please, just stay a little while. Please?" She asked.

He looked longingly at her. She could tell he was weakening to the idea. That he wanted to stay.

"I need to get back. I have..." He looked over her as he lost his train of thought.  
"_Please_, Arthur." She said knowing she was winning the war. "Just stay in the bed with me for a little while. Nothing will happen. I promise." She said trying to move her body to give him room.

He stayed rooted to the ground. His eyes darting to the door.

Finally, his hands moved to his dress jacket and he pulled it off him. He hung it neatly over his chair and he stepped out of his shoes.

She lifted the covers for him to slid in next to her. Her bed was too small for the both of them, but he rested on his side close to her. A wonderful delight stole through her body as she delighted in the joyful, forbidden closeness of him. His body was curled next to hers. His lips kissing her cheek, her chin, before finding her lips.

"Ariadne." he breathed her name like he was saying a prayer. His hands not knowing where to rest on her broken, yet chaste flesh. She wanted his hands on her. Wanted his touch on her.

She rested her own small hands over his. Pulling them over her, pulling them under her night gown to touch her skin underneath.

The electric sensation of foreign skin on her, lit her senses up. Arthur's hand was caressing her belly, as his arm was wrapped around her shoulders. Bringing her face closer to his.

He wanted to move his hand up. That much she was sure of. He wanted desperately to feel the softness of her breasts. To touch that forbidden fruit that was so easily within his grasp.

She placed her hand over his again. His gentlemanly response was to retreat from his fondling. Only, her hands bravely guided him upward. His fingers touching the tender bud of her nipple. His war callused fingers felt rough and exciting on the delicate skin.

"Oh!" She moaned at the feel of it. Delighted that it felt so wonderful.

"Shh." Arthur hissed. Kissing her tenderly on the lips. "We have to be quite."

She realized she was breathing hard as her Major gently fondled her tender nipples. Her body reacting strongly to his touch. Little shivers of pleasure rocking her body as she gasped out.

"Tell me if you want me to stop." He said ducking his head under her night gown. She could feel his warm breath on her nipples then. His lips suckling her to a near frenzy.

"Oh, Arthur." She whispered. "Please." She begged as her soft cries seemed to egg him on. His hand found her neglected breast and his strong fingers teased and tormented her other nipple into a fine hard point. She found her hips swaying slightly as his mouth ravished her breasts.

She had never given much thought to her beasts proving her with so much pleasure before. Yet, in Arthur's hands, her breasts bloomed into a magical thing that made her back arch and lips part. Wanting to scream. Wanting to tell him to stop and at the same time beg him never to stop.

"Arthur!" She panted helplessly as she could feel his hands wander down her body. Not daring yet to touch her between her legs. She wore no panties as she was still convalescing. His hand hovering dangerously close to her unopened woman.

"I love you." He breathed as he kissed her stomach.

"I love you to." She whispered back. She allowed her nightgown to rest high upon her chest. Baring her breasts to the night air.

"I want you for my wife." He said as his lips traveled up her body again.

She was nodding helplessly. She would promise him anything as long as he wouldn't stop his wonderful torture.

"Say yes." he commanded.  
"Yes." She croaked. "Yes, I'll marry you."

She felt his hands roam over her excited sex. She moved her uninjured leg to grant him better access. His large hands covering her small gem easily as he tentatively ran a finger up the slit of her opening.

"Ouch!" She screamed as a sharp pain went off in her injured leg. The broken bone having had too much excitement for one day.

Arthur jumped back as if bitten. She sat up and smoothed her night gown over her naked body. Her gasping coming from pain now, not pleasure.

"My leg." She said feebly.

"I'm sorry." He said looking embarrassed as he pulled the covers over her. A man's attempt to help the situation.  
"No, it's alright." She said as the throbbing pain eased up a bit. "Stupid leg." She said hating the bombs, hating the war, and hating the cast the most of all.  
"Do you need me to get the nurse?" He asked looking worriedly over her.  
"No!" She said flushing a deep red. "No, please. They should do rounds in a while. You had better go." She said trying in vain to rub away the pain on her cast and failing miserably.

"Alright." he said. "But don't forget." he said shrugging on his jacket. Once more her composed officer.

"Forget what?" She asked not following.

He opened the door and turned to her.

"You did say '_Yes_'." He said with a devilish smile before vanishing.


	27. Chapter 27

27.

~ "I still don't see why I have to marry you." Ariadne said as she finished her lunch. Her Major hadn't been able to see her until after his duties ended that morning. Arthur had made sure to shower and change into his dress uniform before visiting the pretty nurse.

"Verbal contract is still binding." The Major assured her as he took a piece of red thread out of his pocket. With careful, cleaver hands, he knotted one side and took her left hand. Wrapping the thread once around her ring finger.

"Yeah, but I wasn't exactly thinking strait at the time." She said playfully. "Isn't their some kind of exception for those who are not mentally competent?

Arthur pretended to think for a moment.

"Non Compos Mentis doesn't apply to that particular circumstance." He told her. A hint of teasing hiding behind his professional voice. "You are free to retain council if you wish."

"Well the best lawyer I know tricked me into getting engaged to him." She complained in a petulant, childish voice.

"He's a crafty one." Arthur agreed as he tied the string into another knot to gauge her ring size.

Ariadne bit her lip. Ready to burst in pride. She knew all the girls were in love with her Major. Trixie would tell her about how they would stop what they were doing and gaze at him as he walked past them on his way to see her.

He came to see her and her alone every day. He would visit with her, bring her her dinner and a book to read. They would talk and he would stay until it grew late in the evening. After what happened the other night, they had to keep the door open to avoid temptation again. She wanted so badly for him to stay the night with her, that is was hard for both of them to say goodbye.

He looked so handsome in his officer's uniform. She knew he must have changed before coming to see her. Wanting to show her his best side as always.

"I spoke to the hospital's chaplain, he can marry us tomorrow." He said soberly. The situation suddenly serious.

"So soon?" She asked. It was all happening so quickly. Her Major wanting to be married before she had to leave for London.

"It will give us a few more days together as husband and wife before you have to leave." He said. His eyes flickering to her worriedly.

"Are you sure the Colonel will give you those days off?" She asked. Heat rushing to her face as she imagined being alone days and nights with Arthur. She had never been with a man like that before. She knew what would happen of course. It was all the girls talked about. Still, she had no idea what to expect.

"At this point, I think he would give me his first born if I asked." Arthur laughed.

Ariadne smiled. Trixie told her all about the Major's heroics in going back for those wounded men. She was sure her Major was indeed the favorite of the gruff Colonel.

"Will we go anywhere?" She asked him. She hoped she wouldn't have to spend her wedding night in the hospital. Her broken leg would surely create enough complications.

"The Colonel is letting us have the apartment he had be using. It's small, but nice." He said. "I think the rings will be ready in time for the ceremony. I can't promise they'll be gold." He told her. His eyes darting worriedly to her.

"I don't care about that." She told him. She felt tears swim into her eyes.

"What wrong?" He asked. His handkerchief coming back out.

"I won't see you until the war is over. Once I'm back in London." She whispered.

"That's why it's so important that we get married now." He said dabbing at her eyes again.

"What if your killed?" She whispered.

"I won't be." He told her confidently.

"Arthur, stop it. You don't know that." She cried.

He said nothing as the two of them sat in silence.

"I will try very hard to come back to you." He said an a steady tone.

She nodded and understood that was the best she could realistically hope for.

"I telegraphed my sister today. I told her we were getting married. That I'll be sending you to live with my parents in New York." He said changing the subject.

Ariadne dried her eyes.

"Why can't I just stay in London?" She asked.

"I would feel better knowing you were with my family. With your broken leg and everything. You'll love my sister Beth. She always wanted a sister and I think she'll be crazy about you." He assured her gently.

"What about your parents?" Ariadne asked. "I'm sure it was a shock to your mother that you were marrying some girl you met in France."

"Why I'm letting Beth break the news. She's the only one who can handle my mother." Arthur said remembering Lydia's Victorian like manners.

"Will your mother like me?" Ariadne asked. She remembered what it was like the first time she met her Aunt after her parents died. How cold the woman was to her. She didn't want to go to another place like that.

Arthur sighed.

"It's been hard on my mother." Arthur said sadly. "She lost both her sons in this war. All she has left is my dad, Beth and me." He told her.

"I'm marrying the baby of the family." Ariadne reminded him.

Arthur nodded.

"Beth and my brother's never married. Your her last chance for grandkids." Arthur told her. "My dad will love you." He said hoping to cheer her up.

"Maybe I should just stay in London." Ariadne told him. "Until you come home."

"The RAF is bombing all of Germany." Arthur said soberly. "Hitler will strike back. I want you in New York."

"You know, just because were getting married does not mean that I've promised to obey you." Ariadne said teasingly. Things were much easier when they were playful.

"I believe you." Arthur said not at all offended. "But I'm asking as your husband to do this for me." His words were so kind that she felt her resolve melt.

"Alright." She said weakly. "I'll go to New York."

"Good." He said kissing her forehead. He placed a small chocolate bar on her tray. "To make up for no engagement ring." He said sitting back down.

"Arthur, I don't need an engagement ring." She said feeling embarrassed.

Her wedding band promised to be the first piece of real jewelry she had ever owned. An engagement ring felt too audacious. Something only the rich thought they needed.

"Of course you do." Arthur snapped. "It was my grandmothers. My dad will make sure you get it. They wanted whoever I married to have it."

Ariadne thought briefly to the girl Arthur had taken out before he left for war. His parents no doubt wanted their prized son to marry her. Not some orphaned girl with no family or country.

"How long do you think it will be till you come home?" She whispered. She was suddenly very anxious for the war to be over. She wanted to start her life with him and didn't want to have to wait for Hitler to fall.

"They say next Christmas with the way things are going." Her Major assured her.

She nodded and tried to be brave.

"Let's not think about it now." He whispered taking her hand in his. "Were getting married tomorrow. This is a happy time."

"Your right." She sighed. "So, if I do decide to marry you, what time should I be at the chapel?"

"You will marry me." He said casually. "The chaplain can marry us at 2." He said standing up.

"Where are you going?" She asked. She didn't want her Major to leave her.

"Have to go get your ring, remember?" He said tucking the red thread back into his pocket.

"Don't worry." We have the rest of our lives together." He told her before he kissed her and left.

~ Arthur had been right about there being no gold left at anything resembling a jewelry story. Gold had become a precious currency in the war and the people used it as money to buy food. No one kept gold for such frivolous things as jewelry.

"I have some silver left." The old jeweler said to the Major. "It's from a flatware set. I can make two very nice rings. You can wash them in gold later. Not to worry."

Arthur agreed as he and Cobb picked out a simple design for Ariadne.

"I don't think she would want anything too fancy." Arthur said as the jeweler promised they would be ready in the morning.

Cobb had to agreed to be his best man, and Eames had been roused out of a nearby pub so that he could give the bride away. Ariadne insisting on it, since he had saved her from Nazi invasion over 4 years ago.

"Can't believe your taking the plunge. Best thing you can ever do." Cobb said as the men walked back to the barracks. "Best thing I ever did was marry Mal." Cobb said sadly. The blond officer no doubt thinking back to the pretty lady in the picture he hadn't seen in so long.

"What did your mother say?" Cobb asked. Snapping out of his own memories of home.

"I wrote to my sister Beth a few days ago." Arthur said. "I need to write to them again. Tell them Ariadne will be coming to live with them in New York."

He didn't want to think about what his mother might be thinking just now. Still he got a telegram from Beth saying that she as excited he was getting married and not to worry about mother. Arthur wondered why his father had not been mentioned. He worried his Dad might be disappointed in his son's hasty nuptials.

"New York would be the best place for her. Till the war is over." Cobb agreed.

"I better get back to the hospital." Arthur said.

"You have the rest of your life to see this girl." Cobb teased. "You need to spend some time with the guys before you get chained down in domestic life."

"I _want_ to be chained down to domestic life." Arthur grumbled as Cobb pulled him to a pub.

"Come on." Cobb said in the other brother tone. "Eames has a party waiting for us.

**Beth.**

**I know my news about getting married was sudden.**

**Please tell Mother and Dad that everything is fine.**

**No one is in trouble.**

**Ariadne is a very fine young woman.**

**I want her to come from London to New York.**

**I think she would be safer there till I'm home.**

**Is Dad alright?**

**Arthur**


	28. Chapter 28

28.

~ Ariadne felt increasingly nervous as Trixie styled her hair from a magazine photograph. Ingrid Bergman looking pouty and glamorous in the black and white picture, as Trixie tried her best to style Ariadne's long hair into curls that draped over her shoulders. The soft curls and pins made her look so much more stylish then she normally was.

She wished she had something white to wear on her wedding day. All she had that was nice was her blue dress. She knew Arthur liked it and since this was war time, they had to make do.

It was winter, so there was no flowers for a bouquet and because of her broken leg, she had to be married in a wheel chair.

"I think your ready." Trixie, her maid of honor, said pulling back and examining her handy work.

She dabbed a little lip stick on Ariadne's lips and the bride was shocked by her own transformation. She didn't look like a girl anymore. For just a moment, she saw herself as Arthur mush have always seen her. As she looked at herself in her compact mirror. Arthur's picture looking back at her.

"Scared?" Trixie teased as Ariadne held her compact in one hand. She had been looking at Arthur's picture all day. She had to keep reminding herself that she did want to marry him. A nagging voice in the back of her mind telling her things were happening too fast.

Still, they could all be killed tomorrow. Her broken leg was proof of that. She didn't want to leave this world without being his wife.

It was strange how whenever she told herself this, it was always Doctor Kikie's voice that came to her.

She and Trixie rode the elevator down to the ground floor and to the little chapel. Eames was waiting for them. The Lieutenant looking especially handsome in his dress uniform.

"Not too late to change your mind, Beautiful." He teased. "You and I can run off together."

"I think I'll pass." Ariadne laughed. Eames shrugged.

"Your loss." He said unfazed as they waited for the music to start.

"Is Arthur in there?" She asked the Lieutenant.

"Course he is." Eames shrugged.

"How does he look? Does he look handsome?" She asked feeling giddy with excitement.

Eames looked uncomfortable.

"Don't really know." He said lamely. "I know I look good. That's all I care about."

She bit her lip nervously as Trixie walked out ahead of them.

"Ready?" Eames asked as the wedding march started.

She took a deep breath and nodded.

~ Arthur stood restlessly at the alter. He longed to see the pretty nurse. Cobb preventing him from visiting her the evening before, and then again that morning. Saying it was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. Instead, the groom had been subjected to teasing and torments from the men in a pub most of the night.

Eames had been the worst with his wild stories about the horrors of married life.

Now, more then anything, he wanted to see his bride come down the aisle. He wanted to see her and once he did, he knew everything would be alright.

He heard the wedding march and as the witnesses all stood, he had to move so he could see her in the wheelchair.

She looked radiant in the blue dress he had first seen her in. The memory of that day in the phone booth. The rain, learning about Jacob, all of it had been alleviated when he realized she had been real. That some magic had made his dream into reality. A real flesh and blood creature that his dreams had formed into his perfect love.

She saw him and smiled as Eames pushed her to him.

"Hello, Major." She said simply when she arrived.

"Glad you decided to come." He whispered as Eames helped her to stand.

She shrugged and gave him an indifferent grin as she fought back a happy smile.

~ His bride tried hard to stay standing during the entire ceremony. She almost lost her balance in the red heeled sandal she had to wear on one foot. Her groom catching hold of her waist and supporting her as they took their vows.

She was relieved there was nothing in the vows about obeying as he easily promised to love and cherish her. She felt her heart swell at the thought that now, she wasn't alone in the world.

~ It was at a small restaurant the party retreated to have a brief reception. Ariadne was delighted at the spectacle of a small chocolate cake decorated with candy flowers. It was just big enough for everyone in their small party to have some.

"When I'm home." Arthur whispered to her. "We can have a real wedding."

"This _is_ a real wedding." She said to him as she fed him some of her chocolate cake. Followed quickly by a kiss.

"Sorry the rings aren't gold." He said as no bride ever looked more lovely then his did.

He wanted only the best for her. He wanted his grandmother's ring on her finger. Followed by a rich, gold band. He wanted a big fancy wedding that would make the society pages. He wanted her walk down the aisle, and not need a wheel chair. A wedding where the best cake he could get her wasn't so small.

"Arthur." She said pulling him free from all the things that were missing from this day.

"This is perfect." She said. Her voice final and not to be trifled with. She looked down at the silver band on her finger. It's mate on his.

He loved her so much. She was too perfect and he doubted he could ever be worthy of her.

~ Ariadne tried to quell the riot of nerves going off in her body as her husband drove them to a quite neighborhood. It was a small apartment that Colonel Burch had loaned them. Her Major chivalrously opened her door of the jeep and scooped her up in an easy, confidant manner.

Her body had always been small and for the first time in her life, she was glad. She liked being so easily held by her husband as he nimbly carried her over the threshold.

The Colonel's apartment was small, but tasteful. It was one of the many apartments laying empty because of the war. Ariadne didn't like to think about the former occupants of these rooms. Or why they had to flee Paris.

Her husband kissed her sweetly before he put her down. She swayed unsteadily on her good foot and his hands were there to help her regain her balance.

"Careful." He whispered in her ear.

~ Night had swiftly approached the city. Their apartment was dark except for the light from the widows. Street lamps were lit outside. Their soft orange light coming in as her husband's hands refused to leave her body. Refused to leave her long enough to turn on any other light.

Ariadne felt herself swallow hard as his hands stayed on her waist. His eyes refusing to leave hers.

"Come here. I want to try something." He said as he pulled her to him. She hopped closer to him. Her husband smiling at her.

"Put your good foot on mine." He said into her ear.

She fought a smile as she stepped lightly onto his shinny dress shoe. Her cast hanging uselessly as she was now a few inches taller. His hand held her waist tighter as he took her hand and stepped back and forth. She clutched tightly to him as her balance was thrown off. His unexpected movements catching her by surprise.

"I'm dancing!" Ariadne exclaimed as her husband held her body closer. She was forced to move with him in a careful rhythm.

"What kind of husband would I be if I didn't dance with my wife on our wedding night?" Arthur asked as she giggled.

He was singing to her gently as he waltzed with her back and forth.

"We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when." He sang softly into her ear. "But I know we'll meet again some sunny day."

It was a popular war time song. Always playing on the radio and moaned over by girls who had to have their sweethearts go away to war.

Arthur slowed their dancing and was kissing her softly as the streetlamps outside flooded their dark rooms with a dream like glow.


	29. Chapter 29

WARNING! EROTIC!

29.

~ Her Major relaxed his hold around her body. Ariadne felt a rush of nervous excitement flow through her body at the prospect of what would happen next. She had never been with a man before and felt the inevitable had finally arrived.

She swallowed hard and knew she must have looked frightened.

"Ariadne." Arthur said. His voice different somehow. It had taken on a ragged tone as his eyes stayed focused on her.  
He took a deep breath.

"I know your leg must be hurting you. If you don't want to... I mean it's alright." He whispered in the darkness.

"No. I... I want to. I've just..." She felt embarrassment well up. She didn't know how to talk about such things with him. "I don't know anything." She said feebly.

He was smiling then as she shifted off his foot. His arms neatly around her, preventing her from falling.

"You want to be with me?" He asked softly in the stillness of the their temporary home.

"Your my husband. Of course I want to be with you." She whispered. Her hands shaking as she wondered what would happen next.

Arthur's hands were in her hair as he was kissing her forehead.

"Let's go to bed." He whispered.

~ Arthur had lost his own virginity to Linda a year before they broke up. She had wanted to be with him and, at the time, he thought they would eventually get married. He was young and anxious to give into the needs that pulsed wildly in his body.

However, since meeting Ariadne, he had felt that hot lust burn low and was satisfied. He wanted her, certainly. Yet, not in the hurried, wanton way that made his body uncontrollable. What he wanted from her was much more intimate. He wanted _her_ as well as her body.

She looked at him nervously as he picked her up again. Her slight weight feeling good in his arms as he carried her the few steps to their bed.

The girl he dreamed into life looking back at him with worried, frightened eyes.

"Arthur, I don't... I don't know what to do." She whispered as he laid her down on the bed. Her blue dress catching the light. Her perfect skin and dark hair were enhanced by the red lipstick and slight blush on her cheeks. She looked like a fairy tale princess as he removed his dress jacket.

He knew she liked the way he looked in uniform. The way her eyes would gaze over his ribbons. The way her breathing would pick up whenever she first saw him. It was one of the reasons he always dressed well for her.

"You don't have to know what to do." He whispered as he slipped off his shoes and climbed into bed with her. His lean body coming to rest on top of hers.

He felt her hands automatically go up to his chest. A natural instinct to stop him.

"Shh." He said pulling her hands down to her side. Letting his body fully rest on hers. "Were married now. It's alright. It's alright." He whispered as his lips caressed her ear and neck.

"Arthur." She panted weakly as he could feel her body relax under his.

He kissed her lips gently. He loved kissing her. Loved the feel of her perfect lips making contact with his. Her worried eyes looking back at his.

He pulled away from her slightly as his hand wandered over her blue dress. He had always loved this dress on her. Loved the color of it. How she looked in it. He was glad she had worn it on their wedding day. His fingers easily undoing the buttons. Exposing her slip and bra.

"Arthur." She panted as her natural modesty tried to cover herself.

"I'm your husband." He reassured her. His hand wandering till it dove into her opened front. His finger finding and pulling on her breast. Tugging on her nipple that was still protected by her bra.

He heard her gasp and moan slightly. He felt a triumphant smile tug his mouth. She was enjoying him. A lifetime of engrained, modest behavior was melting away under his touch.

"Arthur, I love you." She whispered as he ached to put her breast in his mouth. Ached to touch the loveliness between her legs that was his for the taking.

"I love you to." He said pulling her nipple harder so that she gasped.

Her big eyes darting back to him worriedly. Her breathing picking up as his fingers went to unbutton the rest of her dress. So easily those buttons gave way as the delight of her underthings greeted him. His hand grazing up her leg and up her dress as he kissed her lips. A moan escaping her as his hand reached her garter belt and undid her stocking without breaking their contact of lips and breath.

He knew she was scared. That most girls were. It was proof she had never been with a man before him and he was elated by the idea she was untouched by another. Her small body moving with him as he felt his need prickle into arousal.

He wanted her. Wanted to feel his bare skin on hers so desperately, he felt it burn. His hand was still under her slip as he could feel her panties. A heat coming off her secret, unexplored place. He felt himself smile. His wife wanted him. Her own lust was undeniable.

~ "Arthur." She panted as she felt his hand graze over a place no one else had touched. She was shocked at the feel of his rough calloused hands on her delicate sex. His flesh was foreign and felt so perfect on her.

"Lay back." He said in a husky whisper as he pulled away from her. His body still clad in his uniform as she did as she was told and relaxed into their bed. His hand fondling her just outside of her panties. Then, she almost stopped breathing as his hand dipped over her underwear and started exploring her. A sadistic smile and light in his eyes as she gasped over the intrusion.

Was it normal for it to feel so good? Some of the girls had whispered that being alone with a husband was not supposed to feel good. That it was a duty and nothing more. She couldn't stop a small cry as his thumb caressed over a part of her sex that made her body spasm and her heart beat wildly.

He was chuckling.  
"Arthur." She panted sitting up straighter as his fingers dipped into her body. His thumb back on that magic place that made her body jump involuntary and made small squeals of pleasure escape from her lips.

"Yes, Dear?" He said mockingly. His eyes mischievous as his calloused thumb pressed lightly on that strange place again and made her body rock. "Is there anything wrong?" He asked in a teasing voice.

He rocked his fingers inside her as his thumb played over her. She was forced to grab hold of his shirt or risk dieing of pleasure.

She moaned and almost cried from the elation of it.  
"Say it." He whispered gruffly into her ear. "Tell me you like it." He ordered her. As though she were one of his men.  
"I..." She panted sharply as his hands became more forceful.  
"Tell me you like it, or I'll stop." He growled as his thumb made a rotation around that place and she almost screamed.  
"I like it!" She said louder then she thought she should. "Please... please don't stop." She panted.

"Alright." he said and she felt so grateful to him for allowing her to feel this way. Her legs spread shamelessly to him and her hand going over his. Making his hand stay where it was. She didn't care if it was wrong or not. She was liking this too much.

"Take your dress off." He ordered as her body jerked under the work of his hand.

She nodded as her mind felt foggy and stupid. She shed her dress and when he ordered her to take off her slip, she did so without a second thought. His hands never leaving the place between her legs as she relaxed under his attentions.

"Your bra. I want to see your breasts." He said huskily. His fingers and thumbs rolling over her excited desire as she wanted to live forever with him doing this.

She looked back at him numbly. No one had seen her breasts till that night in the hospital. Even though he had seen them before, it felt strange to willingly be naked with him.

She suddenly realized she was shaking her head.

"I'm your husband. Do it." He ordered as his thumb rudely pressed harder over that strange place on her sex and made her lose her balance and fall back on her elbows. Her uninjured leg falling back weakly as he played between her legs.

She nodded and took her bra off. The cool air of night hitting her hot, excited skin. She automatically put her arms over her breasts as his hand increased tempo. Her hips rocking shamefully with his movements.

"Put your hands down." He growled as she could feel his fingers explore deeper inside her.

"Major." She panted and suddenly, her panties were town away and he was on her. His mouth suckling her breast as though he meant to be fed by them.  
"I like it when you call me Major." He said in a voice she wasn't sure was his.

"Major!" she gasped weakly as she could feel his hands rub wildly over her.

~ Arthur had never been so excited. Never had his need felt harder. The few times with Linda, he had burned hot for her. For the carnal act they would share. But as soon as it was complete, he wanted nothing more to do with her. Didn't want her skin on his.

His Ariadne, was different. He wanted to be like this with her always. He couldn't stand to be away from her skin. Her flesh so soft and untouched as his fingers delved into her. Her passage was tight and wet under his work. He didn't want her to be hurt from the loss of her virginity. Her innocence was so charming, yet he knew she might be frightened of their future couplings if he hurt her.

She was already scared of what might happen as his need was painfully strapped in his pants.

He couldn't wait, not a moment longer. He pulled away from her. Her beautiful body in the dim light. Her soft, pale skin was luminous in the bed as he roughly pulled off his dress shirt and started on his pants.

A look of panic came to his wife's eyes as she realized what was happening.

"It's alright." He said leaning closer to her. One hand in her hair, the other unbuttoning his pants. The rush of air on his member making it jump. His hand stroking it lightly as he didn't want to frighten her.

"Arthur. Oh my God." She said looking at him with a shocked expression.

"Your a nurse, you've seen men naked before." He said stroking his need. Surely his body wasn't a total shock.

"Not like this." She almost cried as she moved away from him slightly. He leaned closer to her. His arms trapping her beneath him. Not willing to let her go.

He loved how frightened she was. Loved the contrast of her to his former lover. Linda had been the one to educate him and her methods were rough and he had almost felt violated. Now, with his wife, he felt like man. A man about to perform his husbandly duty on his new bride.

"It's alright." He whispered as he kissed her. His hands going back to her tight sex. She was still wet for him.  
"Arthur." She protested as her eyes darted back to his erection. He couldn't help but feel pleased she was scared of being taken. That his member was frightening to her.

His thumb roamed over her clitoris and she bucked her hips involuntarily.

"Major, please." She cried as he felt his need rage to be inside her when she called him by his rank. His shaft hard and wanting to feel how hot and wet she truly was.

He settled himself between her legs as his lips never left hers. His fingers rubbing and abusing her delicate womanhood till she was senseless.

"If I could spare you this pain, I would." He panted before driving himself into her.

He could feel the virgin's barrier try to stop him. Her inner walls, already tight, contracted hard around him. Ariadne gasped sharply and tried to push him off her. His strong body, a warrior's body, kept her with him. His lips kissing her neck and she let out a moan of pain.

He pushed himself hard into her and she screamed as he felt himself fully penetrate her.

"I'm sorry." he panted as she felt so wonderful. Her passage was so hot and tight around his member that he fought for breath. His body alive with feelings he didn't know existed.

She moaned uncomfortably under him as he was kissing her.  
"Major." She cried as her breathing slowed.

"I'm sorry." He whispered again. His lips on her cheek and neck. He started to rock inside her. Her body tensing up again. Her desire contracting hard around him as he knew she must have found that a strange sensation.

He kept his thrusting as gentle as he could. His lips never leaving her as he told her he loved her over and over again. The contact of her breasts on his bare chest was addictive and he loved the feel of her delicate flesh on his war ravaged body.

She was gasping hard as he suddenly felt her inner walls spasm around him.  
"Major!" She shrieked. Not in pain, but with a new sensation.

"It's alright." He breathed as he rode her with a faster pace. She was moaning as her body shamelessly opened up to him. His mind reeling over how beautiful she was and how she was his. His martial claim complete. Their union consummated fully as she shuttered hard at her release.

~ Ariadne had not been expecting that. Her climax was an unknown thing to her as her husband's assault continued. The sharp pain of him entering her had lasted only a moment before she was rewarded by the feeling of forbidden delights. Like little surges of electricity bursting to life inside her body.

When she finally came down from that place, he was still on her, still in her.

"Arthur." She groaned helplessly as his lust seemed to never be satisfied.

"Your so beautiful." He groaned as he slammed himself into her. Her body absorbing each blow as she suddenly _knew_ she was beautiful. Suddenly felt like she was the most beautiful creature ever.

~ Arthur had never lasted so long. His poor wife was exhausted and he knew she couldn't take anymore. Her kitten like mews coming from her lips as she tried to move away told him her body wasn't used to everything that was happening.

He wanted her. He couldn't stop now. No matter how much she begged him. No matter how exhausted she was. He could never stop now.

~ She was relived when he had finally groaned out a savage completion. His rhythm slowing as her sex felt tender and over stimulated. Her husbands hands returned to her delicate folds as he pulled himself slowly out and push gently in again.

"No." She panted as her hands went between her legs. "I can't... I can't anymore." She breathed as he was smiling at her. His lips on her breast as she couldn't protect her body from him. She couldn't guard her sex and her breasts at the same time and if he was denied one, he would take the other.

"Arthur." She panted.

"Some couples, they spend all day in bed." He whispered into her ear as she was grateful he seemed satisfied, for the moment.

She was breathing hard. Thankful her body was given a chance to calm down. Her husband refusing to let her cover up. Claiming she was too beautiful to cover up.

"You just rest for a little while." He said running his fingers through her hair. Smoothing out a stray lock that had matted to her neck.

She nodded as she reveled in the night air kissing her naked body.  
"Just rest. Then we can go again." He said.


	30. Chapter 30

30.

~ Ariadne woke to the smell of eggs cooking. The smell of food being readied ripped her pleasantly from sleep as she realized she was hungry.

"Morning." Her husband called as she unfolded herself from her blankets. Their borrowed apartment was small enough that the bedroom and kitchen were almost in the same room.

"Morning." She said hugging her bedding close to her. She still wasn't used to him seeing her naked. So many things from their wedding night had been an education that her mind and senses were still reeling.

Arthur's needs has been insatiable. She thought he would never be satisfied enough to go to sleep. The Major wanting her over and over till she thought she couldn't take anymore. Her husband making her body bloom into life as she never knew she could feel such things.

She worried she would not be able to keep him appeased. Were all men like this? Did all men want to take their wives over and over again? He had finally dropped off to a heavy sleep. Her body worn out from his carnal needs.

"You made breakfast?" She asked from their bed. She had never heard of a man cooking before.

"Just eggs and toast I'm afraid." Arthur said as he brought her a plate in bed. His lips touching her forehead. She shyly covered herself even though he had seen everything.

"Every man needs to know how to cook something." He laughed as she started eating. They were hot and spiced with black pepper.

"Trying to impress your new wife?" She asked as he climbed back into bed with her.

"Maybe." He laughed. "You weren't impressed enough last night?"

She almost chocked on her breakfast. The memory of being with her Major just a few hours ago made her blush and not meet his eyes. He had been wonderful to her. Her innocence and broken leg no doubt making things difficult for him. The whole affair had not been nearly as traumatic as she had always feared. Ariadne would even have called it pleasant. She would never admit it, but it was something she would do again.

Her husband's savagery was animal like and he had taken her again just a few hours later. He was so difficult to satisfy, she wondered if she could ever get used to it.

"I'm not going to comment on that, Major." She said as she knew her face was red.

He chuckled as his lips kissed her bare shoulders.

"I didn't hurt you did I?" He asked softly. "Your leg and everything." He added.

She shook her head.

"No." She said feeling a warm rush of happiness flood though her. "No you didn't hurt me."

~ Arthur had to help her in almost everything. After breakfast, he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom. Her embarrassment total when he striped himself naked and joined her in a bath. Propping her cast on the side of the tub so it wouldn't get wet.

"Can't let you drown in the tub." He said as helped her wash. His hands going between her legs. Washing her there as if that part of her body was his property.

He had drug her wheelchair from the jeep so she could get around the apartment without his having to carry her everywhere. Her Major was full of energy and she knew he would give her the moon if she asked for it. His face wearing a constant smile as he wanted to do everything for her. She had never seen him so happy as he kept wanting to touch her. His mood almost giddy as she relented and allowed him to take her back to bed. His hands wandering over her clothes as his lips kissed her bare flesh.

~ "I still think you should go to medical school." Arthur told her as she was losing spectacularly to him at chess. Her Major had been taught by his father to play the game, and she wanted to learn.

It was a rare reprieve from their love making. Her husband petulantly agreeing to play a board game and leave her alone for a little while.

"Arthur, you can't be serious." Ariadne said. "I can't be a doctor."

"Why not?" He asked in disbelief. "We have plenty of female doctors in new York."

"Well, that's in New York. New York is not the rest of the world." She sighed.

"Sweetheart, this war is going to change the world. Nothing will be the same." He told her as he took her knight.

"I thought you would want me to stay home. Especially if we had children." She said. The idea of a baby with Arthur making her womb flutter with want. She imagined him chasing their child through the grass as she laughed from a picnic blanket. Spring flowers all around them. Her Major picking up the small one as he or she giggled. Her husband so young and strong. Fatherhood making him even more handsome.

"I would want you to be happy. If staying at home made you happy, then that's what I want." He said. His face turning into a scowl as she moved her piece to block him. He would be in check soon and had no way out.

"Seeing you take care of that soldier, I think it would be a waste if you didn't do more." He said as he tried to think his way free of her clever little trap.

"That's why I became a nurse." She said defensively.

"Your a great nurse. Now, you need a new challenge." He said as she moved her piece cutting him off again.

"Check." She said.

Her husband grumbled.

"Well, maybe back in London, it won't hurt to take a few classes. I'm hold up with with this leg until then." She mused as the Major looked annoyed.

It was still so strange to see him not in uniform. He looked so normal and plain in his regular clothing.

"I want you in New York." Arthur said moving his next piece. He knew she would win.

"Checkmate." Ariadne said casually. "How many wins is that?"

"Forget being a doctor, you need to be a military strategist." Arthur sighed. "Hitler never would have started this mess with you around." He said in a cranky voice.

She giggled.

"I think I would feel better in London. I don't want to impose on your family." She said. She was scared about meeting his mother and father.

"Their your family now." He assured her. "Beth is excited to meet you."

"What about your mother?" She asked.

"Only chance at grand kids. Just keep reminding her of that." Arthur said as he set up another game.

"Besides, I don't want you alone in some big city with your leg." He told her. "Who's going to take care of you?"

She sighed. He was right of course. She hated it when he was right.

"You know, I never promised to obey." She said as he made the first move across the board.

"I would never expect you to." He laughed. "Your move, Gorgeous."

"So eager to lose again?" She teased.

~ "Promise me something." Arthur said as night fell over them again. The street lamps outside cast a warm glow into their dark rooms.

"What?" She asked. Her body luxuriating in the feel of his skin on hers. She never knew that this simple contact could be so wonderful. Their flesh melding perfectly as they fought back sleep. Their bodied becoming so much better at this new thing called making love.

"Promise our home will always be a happy place. I don't want our marriage to be like my parents." He confessed to her in the stillness of night. The warm glow from outside picking out his handsome features.

"Promise to always give our kids affection. Always tell them you love them, and me. Always tell us you love us." He whispered.

"You don't have to make me promise that." She said to his shadowy features.

"I don't think my mother ever told me she loved me." He said sadly.

"She loves you." Ariadne whispered.

He shook his head.

"I keep thinking back to when I was little. All the times my mother would say anything to me. I don't think she ever once said she loved me. She was always so distant from us." Arthur said painfully.

Ariadne said nothing as her husband was lost in thought. She had seen this many times. Wounded soldiers would talk about their lives. Their regrets.

"My Dad, he always told us he loved us. He always showed us affection. I don't know why my mother couldn't." He went on.

Ariadne thought back to her Aunt and Uncle. The family that wasn't really hers. Her Aunt was distant from her children as well. She was proud of them, however. She would brag endlessly about them. That was how Ariadne knew she loved them.

"I promise I won't be like that." She whispered.

Her new husband was roused then. His body moving over hers as he kissed her deeply. Hardly letting her break for breath as night rolled away from them.


	31. Chapter 31

31.

~ Four days was all they had. They never left the small apartment in that time. Arthur reluctant to sleep as he was aware of the time ticking away. Like some kind of execution, she would be leaving.

She was the girl he dreamed into life, the girl who followed him to the front, the girl in the field of dying summer flowers, the girl who danced on his feet. How could he let her go?

Still he had to let her go. His hands had only so much longer to feel her skin. To smell her hair and have her sleeping safely next to him.

She seemed to sense their time coming to a close as well. Her mood becoming darker as she tried hard not to cry as dawn broke on their last day.

~ "Did you sleep at all last night?" She asked as she attempted to make pancakes for them. She had never been a very good cook. But as a newlywed, she wanted to cook for him this last day.

"Not very much." Arthur said looking sad as he stood behind her. He was so afraid she would fall now that she insisted on walking with a cane. Her tolerance for the wheelchair had run thin.

He was soaking up every detail of his bride. The way she looked in the mornings with blurry eyes and messed up hair. The way her skin was so clear and her clothes were casual and free for him to take off.

"You need sleep." Ariadne said handing him a plate.

"I couldn't sleep." He grumbled as he followed her to their little kitchen table.

She picked up her sewing again. Her stitching careful and tight as she fixed a hole in his pocket. Hemmed an unraveled seem.

She had to stay busy. Had to find something to do. It was almost 9 o'clock. Her plane to London would leave at noon.

She looked at the clock, then wished she hadn't.

"Are your things packed?" Arthur asked as he ate.

"Yes." She said feebly. "I only have the one bag."

He nodded.

"Did you eat something?" He asked.

"Not hungry." She whispered.

He said nothing.

"I'll most likely be back at my old hospital. If I can't get passage onto a ship right away. You know how crazy it is right now." She sighed.

"Colonel Burch had a man drop off you new passport and traveling papers. You shouldn't have any problem." He told her numbly.

She nodded.

"Their in my bag." She said stiffly as she tied the sewing off and neatly folded her husband's shirt.

"You have the money I gave you?" He asked. "I don't want you going anywhere without money."

"Yes. It's all in my bag." She told him.

"If you have any problems, you call the American embassy. Tell them I'm your husband and your an American citizen. If they still give your trouble, I want you to call my parents. My dad's a lawyer, he can help." Arthur told her. "You have the number? I wrote it down."

"I won't have any trouble." She said. A creeping feeling of dread coming over her.

"I know." He whispered.

~ The clock ticked relentlessly as she packed her husband's bag and went to get dressed. It was in the same blue dress she had gotten married in that she wore as he drove her to the airport. A small plane was waiting for them. Ready to load the wounded and take them to England.

"Remember to stay warm." He instructed her as he fastened her coat tighter. "England's very cold."

"I know." She said fighting tears that wouldn't stop surfacing.

She couldn't cry. She had to be strong. She was an officer's wife now, and had to act a certain way.

"It won't be too much longer. Then I'll be back." He whispered as the sounds of the engines roared. The last of the wounded being carried on board.

"Right." She said. She steeled her spine and tried to be brave.

Her major took a deep breath and looked at the waiting plane.

"I think it's time." He said soberly. His face lined with that angry scowl.

She couldn't stop herself. Her arms were around his neck and she could feel his warm breath with hers.

"Come back to me, Major." She cried softly in his ear. "I couldn't bare it if I lost you." She whispered.

Her husband nodded as she pulled away from him. Tears falling shamefully out of his eyes.

"Yes, Ma'am." He said not looking at her.

She watched him try his best to compose himself. His hard exterior cracking a little.

"You better get on the plane. I'll see you soon." He said.

She nodded and took her small bag. Her gait slow as she was still walking with her broken leg and her cane.

She watched her Major from her seat on the plane. Her palm on the window so he would know where she was sitting.

She watched him as the plane turned around on the runway, became airborne, and he was gone.


	32. Chapter 32

31.

~ Ariadne wanted to cry as she watched the land turn into the ocean. The plane making a steady journey to England as she felt her heart was too heavy with thoughts of her husband.

She couldn't bare to be apart from him. Not now. Not after all they had been through together. She briefly thought of taking this same plane on the return trip to Paris. Sneaking back to her hospital and surprising him.

He had wisely made her promise she wouldn't do that, but she enjoyed a happy fantasy where her husband, weary from war, had come to her hospital. His face lighting up at seeing her. He would scoop her up so effortlessly and kiss her. Telling her he never should have let her go. That he needed her too much.

Shouting pulled her free of her day dream.

"Soldier!" The nurse on the plane was crying as a scared infantryman was panicking at waking up on the plane.

"Calm down!" The young nurse was saying.

Ariadne sighed and hobbled out of her seat to help.

~ It was lucky for her she was able to keep busy on the plane and the few days after. She hardly had time to think of her husband as she helped the young nurse on a plane and then helped her at the hospital. The bony, old Matron happy to see her senior nurse again.

"We heard about your injury from Doctor Kikie, of course." The Matron said stiffly.

"How is Doctor Kikie?" Ariadne asked as she hobbled away from a scared soldier who cried for his mother. His face had been burned from some explosion.

"He's fine. Just overworked." The Matron said in her crisp, efficient manner.

She caught sight of the silver wedding band on Ariadne's finger.

"Nurse?" The Matron said. "Have gotten _married_?"

"I have, Matron. Yes." Ariadne said not wavering to the old maid's steel eyes.

"You know that is against policy." The Matron said curtly.

"Against _your_ policy. Not the Red Cross or this hospital's. This is war time. They take what they can get." Ariadne told the Matron.

"Besides, I'll be leaving soon. My husband wants me with his family in America. I was just helping your nurse on the plane ride over." She said.

"I see." The Matron said fixing her collar. "Well, we are short of nurses at the moment. I would deeply appreciate your staying here until your voyage to your husband's homeland. You can walk I see, and we need the help."

The Matron's bony hands clasped together as she told her the pay would be the same and she could sleep in the nurse's dorm.

"Alright." Ariadne said plainly. The steel in her spine returning.

The two women nodded and turned back to their respective duties without another word.

~ Arthur had watched her plane till it vanished in the sky. He felt empty somehow. Like some part of him was missing. The streets of Paris seemed more hollow and lifeless without her. The people, like ghosts who had no soul behind their eyes.

~ "Good to see you again, Major." Dax said that evening. The Lieutenant in a good mood at seeing the grumpy officer again. "How was the bride today?" He asked.

Arthur didn't answer as he climbed into his solitary bunk in the officer's barracks. He had grown accustomed to the feel of his wife's body next to his. The warmth of her skin and feel of it was something he had become addicted to. Her comfort going through his bones as he would fall asleep breathing in the smell of her.

He pulled out a silver cigarette case he had been keeping in his front pocket for weeks now. His Dad had given it to him just before leaving for basic training. It had been something the older man had carried during the first world war. Arthur didn't really smoke, and cigarettes were hard to get these days. Instead, he kept only a few cigarettes in it along with some letters from Beth.

Front and center was the picture of Ariadne. Her impossibly beautiful face shining back at him as he memorized every feature. His eyes closing as he wanted to dream of her.

~ On her little cot behind the nurse's station. Ariadne tried to get comfortable. She wasn't able to climb the stairs to the dorms and the lift had broken that morning making everything much more complicated. Ariadne procured an Army cot and settled into a quite spot on the ground floor behind the nurses station. The recovery ward was peaceful as men, fresh from surgery waited to live or die.

She covered up and looked towards her night stand she had made from discarded boxes. Her open compact sat there. Her Major's face looking back at her. She doubted she could have fallen asleep is she didn't have him to look at each night.

His words drifted back to her.

_"We won't lose each other. I'll see you soon."_

She cried softly then. Her pillow muffling the sounds of her sobs as her steel finally broke from his absence. Nights promised to be the worse. How could she sleep without his calloused hands on her? How could she feel safe with her Major in another country? He was so far away now. He might as well be in another world.

She tried to comfort herself by pulling her covers tighter around her. Pretending it was his arms. Tried to dream of their picnic in the field. But it didn't work. She had experienced the real thing. No dream could ever make up for that.

~ Another round of promotions and Cobb was now Arthur's new commanding officer.

"I fought to have you stay in my unit." Colonel Burch told him as they readied to move out again. The weather bracingly cold.

"But, Colonel Cobb is a good man. A good man who had good men under him." The gruff colonel told him.

"Yes, Sir." Arthur said.

For a moment, Arthur thought the older man might hug him. Colonel Burch had always treated Arthur more like a son then anything else.

Colonel Burch simply coughed and told Arthur to take care of himself. That he didn't want to write a condolence letter to that pretty wife of his. Then added that if Arthur was killed, not to worry, that Ariadne would find someone else right away.

Arthur nodded and laughed. Knowing the colonel was telling him, in his own way, to be careful.

"Yes, Sir." He said simply as the Colonel left on the convoy headed to Germany.

~ It was bitter cold as Cobb's unit made their way into deep forests. It was days and days of advance and retreat. They would stumble upon villages after a few days of travel. Railroad tracks had been laid and then ripped up. A tell tell sign the Nazis had constructed something there.

Most of these places were built and then torn down before the Allies had advanced in. The hideous crimes seemingly wiped clean under broken pits of wood, concrete, and brick. Freshly turned earth the only witness to things no man dared to dream of.

Still, there were whispers. Gossip in the villages as Colonel Cobb spoke to the frightened people in his kind teacher's voice.

He had Arthur translate horrible tales of trains bringing human cargo into fenced in compounds. Of the human cargo being sent to work. Of ash falling from the sky at night as the camps incinerators would burn non-stop.

Cobb made Arthur translate everything. Every painful detail the locals were willing to give. Arthur never knew there was such a thing as evil until he heard what these frighted survivors told him.

He would type these reports each night and tell himself it was just exaggeration of locals who wanted to pander to the American forces.

"Please don't let this be true." He whispered as he typed reports to Washington late into the evening.


	33. Chapter 33

33.

~ Ariadne was happy to be back at her duties as a nurse. She had enjoyed her small vacation after she broke her leg, but it felt good to feel useful once more. She still had to walk with a cane and was restricted to the ground floor, but she kept busy. All the junior nurses looking up to the senior nurse who had been the the front, been wounded, and still came back and helped them with laundry.

"So good to see you again, Nurse." Doctor Kikie said with a pleasant little smile. The old friends standing over a patient as the older man told him he would be just fine.

"Go married I see." The Doctor said as she followed him on rounds. Her limping improving and she didn't use her pain medication anymore. The drugs made her too sleepy and she didn't want to spend the rest of the war dreaming.

"Yes." Ariadne laughed and looked at the silver ring she loved so much. It wasn't a perfect metal. It had black splotches and didn't shine very bright, but it was her wedding band all the same. It felt heavy and just right on her finger.

"Need I ask who?" The Doctor chuckled. "Perhaps that gallant GI who carried you into the hospital?"

She blushed and didn't answer.

"I never got to thank you setting my leg. You did a good job. I think I wouldn't be here walking if you weren't there."

"Well, I'm very glad you were there at the front." Doctor Kikie said.

"You know," Ariadne started then bit her lip. She wondered if this was a good idea.

"What is it?" The Doctor asked. His face ever helpful.

"Well, Arthur thinks that when I go to America, I should go to medical school." Ariadne said lamely. She half expected Doctor Kikie to laugh and tell her _women_ were nurses. _Men_ were Doctors.

Doctor Kikie did laugh, but in a kind way.

"I think the profession would suit you beautifully." He said. "Come. You cane help me on my rounds. I'm an old man and your a cripple. Together I think we can do the job of one doctor." He teased.

~ It had been a good day. Doctor Kikie walking her though his rounds. Having her examine each patient as though she were already a medical student. Having her give him her opinion and then telling her what was right and wrong. Most times, she was right about every treatment, but was happy to learn new things. Doctor Kikie eager to teach her. Her mind engaged as he taught her about treatments and new medication.

~ At night, after her duties were done, she read through the medical books he gave her. All of them testing her bravery as they talked about the dangers of surgery and the intricate systems of the body.

'_Maybe it is something I can do._' she thought as she readied herself to sleep. Hardly thinking of Arthur all day.

_Dear Arthur,_

_I know it's only been two days since you saw me, but I'm still in London. No ships are leaving for New York right now. I promise to be on the first one. _

_As for right now, I'm back at my old hospital. The Matron needs my help and I'm working with Doctor Kike again, which makes me very happy. I told him about going to medical school and he thinks it's a good idea. He is helping me prepare. Learning what to expect. It's been interesting. _

_I know you don't want me working with my leg, but it helps to keep me from worrying about you. If I didn't stay busy, I might go crazy. _

_Please stay safe and come back to me. _

_Ariadne. _

~ A man was in tears as Ariadne was undressing his wound. It had been an awful day. A plane arrived from France with more wounded. Ariadne had looked for her husband's face in each man but didn't see him. She was certain this unit wasn't anywhere near his. She hadn't received any letters from him yet, but knew it would take time.

"Just let me die!" The soldier screamed at her.

"Prep him for surgery, Nurse." Doctor Kikie told her. "I would ask you to scrub in, but not with that cast. It's a breeding ground for infection. You can watch from observation." he promised.

~ From the observation window, she saw Doctor Kikie take the young soldier's legs, right arm and most of the fingers from his left hand.

"Too badly burned. Too much damage. Blood isn't getting to the appendages. He explained. "See how their black?" He said showing her.

She felt like she was about to be sick. Her thought of Arthur. What if he was blown up like this? This soldier was so young. His whole life was changed now.

~ The Soldier's recovery did not go well. He cried at night over the loss of his limbs.

"There was nothing the doctor could do." Ariadne told the young man. "The limbs would have gotten infected. He had to take them. You'll be going home now." She tried to console him.

"I have a wife back home. She won't won't me like this." The young man cried.

"Your wife wants you home." She whispered.

"She would be better off burying me." He moaned.

Ariadne sat back. Her thoughts of burying Arthur. Of what his funeral would be if he didn't make it back to her. The very thought pained her deep into her heart.

"No wife wants to bury her husband." She told the soldier in a soft whisper.

~ That night, Ariadne tried to sleep on her little cot in the recovery ward. She liked being here more then the dorms. It was peaceful and she was used to her privacy.

She had his picture out as always and was trying to fall asleep. Too much had happened. Too much was haunting her mind.

She was about to drift off to sleep when the gun went off.


	34. Chapter 34

33.

~ She had been dreaming of Arthur when a horrible bang rang out through the ward.

She had been fleeing France once more. Caught in a frightening world of endless nights and no way out. A maze like trap that she couldn't escape from. The humid nights had rolled in and she and a small group of strangers were running in the dark night air. The enemy was so close. She could hear them coming closer and closer. Their voices reaching them from the shadows.

She and the others were hiding in a village. The enemy prowling like cats through the streets. Hunting them and their was no place to hide. Her feet hurt so much as they hid in a loft of some house. They tried to be quite. So quite, they dared not even breathe.

She could hear footsteps reaching them. Feet on rotting floors as the midnight invaders searched for them.

A flashlight shone over them, and it wasn't the invaders at all. It was Arthur and his men. They had come just in time. She didn't have to walk to Dunkirk. She didn't have to have bleeding feet. The American's had arrived and already beaten back the hostile invaders. Arthur would take her home now. Back to the family in the big house with the stone lions. She would be spared from all of it.

Arthur was about to take her in his arms when the sound of gun shot reached the dream. She looked in horror as her rescuer, the handsome Major, was bleeding. His uniform covered in blood.

"Arthur?" She cried out and forced herself to wake up. Such a horrible thing could not have happened, and her mind fought back.

~ She knew it had been just a dream. But in the dream, things always felt real. Her heart was racing, her breath quick, and she didn't know why.

_'Gun went off.'_ She remembered as she hobbled on her broken leg to the recovery ward.

"What happened?" She asked the ward nurse who was running back to the nurse's station in tears.

"What happened?" Ariadne asked more forcefully as the other patients were stirred awake.

"Ma'am!" One man shouted trying to get up. "It's over there. He must have kept another revolver in his pack."

All patients belonging were searched for weapons. But sometimes, in the hurry, things got missed.

She saw the blood and smelled the stinging smell of gun powder. The young man who Doctor Kikie had operated on, taking both legs and an arm, lay dead in his bed. His face melted off by the self inflicted gunshot wound. The horrible mess of blood and brain matter stained not only the bed, but the floor and wall as well.

"He was crying all night." One of the wounded men said. "I told him to stop. We're all hurt. He wouldn't stop." The other man said in near tears.

"I didn't think he would do this." Yet another man said.

Ariadne felt like she was surrounded by scared, fitful children. All of them needing comfort. All of them crying from their beds. She turned away from the dead man and hobbled back to the nurse's station. A feeling of defeat weighing her down and she divorced herself from feeling anything. She couldn't afford to feel anything. Her heart was already too heavy.

The ward nurse had alerted the staff by telephone. Still a novelty to a modern hospital. The Matron and attendants had rushed in. The shrewish old maid gasping at seeing the senior nurse.

"Nurse! You are in your_ night clothes_!" The Matron said. A boney hand fluttering to her neck. The Matron was dressed in her robe that covered her from neck to toes. She always looked impeccable.

Ariadne stopped and looked at the Matron. Surely, she wasn't being lectured about the dress code right now. Not with a man's blood still wet and covering the walls and floors. The other wounded scared over what happened.

"We have a free bed, Matron." Ariadne said sadly and went back to her little cot.

_ Dear Arthur,_

_ Things are going fine here in London. No more bombing for now. I am still trying to get passage to New York. _

_ Everything is fine. We have a lot of wounded. Everything is fine. Please, don't worry about me. I'm fine. _

_ Please be careful. I know it's selfish, but I want you back with me soon. I keep having bad dreams about you and I wake up scared. _

_ Ariadne_

~ Arthur read and re-read the letter his wife sent. She had only been in London a few days and he could tell she had wanted to stay there. But with this last letter, he could tell something had happened. Her neat handwriting was messy and she had to keep telling him she was fine and that made him suspicious. He knew something had upset her and she wasn't telling him what it was. Hopefully, whatever it was, it would make her want to go to New York.

It had been slow going through the forests these days. He had heard things from other units about death camps. How they needed to move faster and the Red Cross aide needed to come. During the day, Arthur would march. Afternoons, if they arrived at a village, they searched for remains of whatever final solution the Nazis had been doing. At night, Arthur would type reports. Detailing accounts and what the unit found.

His men were all depressed as they found evidence that nothing was sacarid in horrible war. Everywhere there was stories of families ripped apart and killed. Of mothers being tied to their children and shot over a bridge. The mother's dead body pulling the child down and drowning them both. All to save bullets.

The locals having to pull the bodies out of the river so the water would not become contaminated. Cobb looked especially disturbed by these stories. The Colonel looking at his pictures of his pretty wife Mal and their two children.  
"James would be three now." Cobb mused one evening as Arthur was typing. The Major stopped his translation and looked up.

"I wonder what he looks like." Cobb whispered sadly. "I've been trying to picture their faces, and I can't seem to see their faces anymore."

Arthur said nothing and went back to work. He had no idea how to comfort Cobb. Nothing could give anyone peace in this strange land of graves and ghosts. This half world that he kept wishing he could wake up from. He could wake up and be back in a field of dieing summer flowers. A pretty nurse eating chocolate by his side.

At night, he would climb into bed, look at Ariadne's picture, and try to dream of her.

~ In his dreams she was in snow. But the snow was not natural. It was dark snow and smelled of burned unclean things. The ash was staining everything around them grey. Draining their world of color. Her face was deathly pale and she looked ghostly. Just a phantom of the girl in the blue dress.

Snow like ash was falling over her as she stepped lightly through the woods. Just out of his reach. He gave chase but couldn't catch her. Her fine eyes taunting him from the trees as the ash fell.

"Ariadne!" Arthur shouted and she didn't even turn back. Didn't even turn to see him as her body turned to ash and was caught in an updraft. Falling from the sky like an evil snow. His hands unable to catch it.

~ "Nurse." The Matron said the morning after the suicide. "I can no longer allow you to stay at the nurse's station over night."

"Matron, the lift is still broken. " Ariadne said having trouble walking to the little post office that was at the hospital. She had hoped for a letter from Arthur today.

"Yes, but my room is on the ground floor. You can stay with me. It is not fitting for a married woman to be sleeping so close to strange men while her husband is at the front." The Matron said in that stiff, efficient manner of hers.

"I can guard your celibacy for your husband's sake until you can be united with his family. " She said.

Ariadne felt her face fall. She didn't like where this was going.

_Dear Ariadne,_

_ I hope this letter finds my wife in New York and not in London. My wife did promise me she would be on the first boat out this war._

_ I'm very glad to hear you are keeping busy. I know you like working at the hospital and that's good. I want you to feel needed. I also want you out of England and with my family._

_ I am fine. It's all walking in the day, eating dinner at some village and then poker games with Cobb and Dax all night. Don't worry about me. Most days are very boring. The main action seems to be over. I won't have any interesting war stories to tell anyone when I get home. _

_ I'll be home soon._

_ Arthur._

~ Ariadne kept her gaze on her compact as the Matron's loud snore ripped though the still night. She had to share a bed with the boney old maid and her knobby knees and elbows were always hitting her. She had taken to writing to Arthur everyday. A part of her comforted by telling him the mundane details of her daily life. The one sided conversation cathartic as she edited her letters of things she knew would upset him.

She sighed as she couldn't wait for dawn. Couldn't wait to write to Arthur. She wanted to write to him all about her new sleeping arrangements. Vent her frustrations. The whole thing made her finally book passage on a boat for New York.

~ Arthur was laughing as he read over Ariadne's most recent letter. She wrote to him almost every day. He was so happy to get a stack of at least eight letters at a time. His wife's careful, neat script and stamps that still told him she was in England.

"What is it?" Cobb asked as he took the cards Eames handed out.

The American's had run into the British Lieutenant just a few days ago. Seeing Eames again had made the slow, depressing march though Europe suddenly brighter. He had brought a certain mischief to the group that was missing. They were enjoying a round of poker to which Arthur and Eames were beating Cobb and Dax. Arthur had learned to play from his brothers. A thing they had kept hidden from their mother.

"My wife is having to share a room with the hospital Matron." Arthur laughed. "She say's the Matron is having her sleep in the same bed and that she snores all night and kicks her."

Cobb and Eames snorted a laugh.

It had been an enjoyable evening of talking for the men. A brief reprieve for them from the destruction of they had come to see everyday.

"You know, I always wondered about those kinds of women." Dax said in an amused little voice. "I mean, they decided not to marry and _work_ for a living. What kind of woman decides not to have a husband?"

"Nuns?" Cobb offered.  
"It's not natural for a woman to not want a man." Dax said plainly.

"Some women are afraid of men." Cobb said with a soft smile. Arthur could tell he was amused by the Lieutenant.

"What? You mean the_ horrors_ of the marriage bed?" Dax said being blunt. "Nothing to be afraid of. Most women I know, like it."

Arthur said nothing. His mind going back to his wedding night with his maiden bride.

"So, whats your point?" Cobb asked.

"So, I think women who never marry must be hiding something. Like maybe they don't like men for a good reason." Dax offered.

"Afraid of being with a man?" Arthur asked re-reading his wife's letter. His heart aching to hold her again. To share a bed with her. He could tell she missed him. Her worries about him seeming to grow.

"I think women like that secretly love other women." Dax explained in a whisper that made the other three men lean in closer to hear. "I've heard about it. They have relations with other women like men and women have relations."

"How would that even work?" Cobb asked with a laugh.  
"They find a way." Dax hissed as if he was telling of some unbelievable thing.

Arthur shook his head. During the last round of promotions, Colonel Burch had asked about Dax. Arthur had made a point of telling him the Lieutenant was not cut out to lead anyone. But Dax was a good soldier. He did what he was told and didn't question his commanding officers.

Cobb was shaking his head as the men turned to general dirty talk. Arthur's mind going back to his own wedding night. To his virginal bride and how much he missed her.


	35. Chapter 35

35.

~ Arthur swore to never drink again. Lieutenant Eames had told him the drink was the best way to forget his wife for the time being. But Arthur didn't want to forget Ariadne. He wanted the wound of her absence to fester and hurt.

He looked over the two pictures he had of her. The casual shot of them from a local who had charged him five dollars. Worth every penny as she looked so lovely. Captured forever as his sweetheart. The other was her face. Looking embarrassed to have her picture taken.

He told her that he would be home so soon that he would barely have time to miss her. That he only needed her pictures to show her off to the other men. How wrong he was. It felt so empty to not have her here. To not be able to see her except in this sepia world of memories.

~ "I know your glad to be officers right now, Sirs." Said an enlisted man as he drove the jeep over the rugged terrain. "Rest of us had to march all over here this morning." Cobb and Arthur said nothing as they approached the tents at the front.

"Keep your weapons at the ready, Sir." Arthur mumbled to Cobb as they looked over the battle torn camp. "We can't be sure this area is secure."

Cobb nodded and took the Major's advice to hide his rank. To an outsider, the two of them appeared liked ordinary soldiers. Their men were all under orders not to salute them in case of snipers.

For Arthur, this was easy. He was naturally distrustful of his surroundings and that made it easier for him in war time. Patton had been insistent that the 3rd march forward into the heart of Germany and forward they advanced.

The Major was quick to duck into a newly dug trench to find his Lieutenant, Dax.

"Lieutenant." Arthur said gravely as Dax handed him binoculars to peer out of the trench with.

"Good to see you ladies made it to the ball." Dax teased.

"Hows the old ball and chain?" Dax asked popping a cigarette in his mouth.

"She'll be better once we take this forest." Arthur said peering at the movement behind the trees. "I can assume this field if mined?" He asked.

"You bet you ass it is." Dax said as Cobb came to crouch next to them. "I already lost a man to one of the little bastards this morning. Dead before he even knew he stepped on the damn thing. Could have been worse. At least he didn't suffer."

"We have to wait for a team to come and disarm them." Cobb said logically.

"That will take a few days." Dax added.

"Giving the enemy enough time to get away." Arthur grumbled. "Who do we think is behind the tree line?"

"Not an army. Not by any stretch of the word. It looks like a rag tag band of men who are just trying to get the hell out before the Allies roll in. Can't say I blame them." Dax said casually.

"Were under orders to take this sector." Arthur said bitterly. "How many grenades do you have?"

"Sir?" Dax said his cigarette hanging loosely from his lip. The match he was about to light it with burning low as he stared at the Major in surprise.

"It'll take days to get a team out here to disarm those mines and we can lose a lot of men in the process. They have the cover of the trees, and the high ground." Arthur explained. "We need to push forward and flush them out."

"Few grenades are not going to make them surrender." Cobb said.  
"Where's our ordinance, Lieutenant?" Arthur asked. Dax sighed and nodded to one of his enlisted men.

"Give the Major what he wants." He told him. "Sir, I assume was need to beat a temporary retreat?"

"Yes, but do it quietly. Keep your fires burning. And the trucks here. We don't want them to think were actually leaving. They might get suspicious."

~ "Sir, this is crazy." The skinny corporal said as Arthur laced a string of explosives together. Cobb and Dax had quickly evacuated the platoon away from the front lines. Their sudden flight had been swift and silent, leaving only the major and a skinny corporal behind. Radios were left blaring and cook fires were left burning. It was eerie to be in the trench at the moment. Like the two men were ghosts, forgotten by the living.

"Relax." Arthur fumed. Annoyed at the young man who had always trusted him before. "I know what I'm doing."

"You've done this before?" The young man asked.

"No." Arthur said casually. "Now, you know what to do, right? Throw the rope out and pull the red line?" He said roughly handing the skinny corporal the explosives. They were tied together like Christmas lights.

"Sir, this is crazy." The young man said again.

"I agree." Arthur told him. "You wait for my order and then pull the red string. You cover yourself good because there is going to be an explosion you won't ever forget." Arthur warned.

The young man was shaking.

"Hey!" Arthur barked. "Look at me." The young man looked at the Major. "This will work. You'll be fine." He said.

~ The two men didn't waste anymore time. The Corporal following Arthur's orders to the letter. In the silence of the empty trenches and camp, came a horrific explosion as the mines were all blown up at once and heavy shrapnel rained down on the Allied camp as well as the men hiding in the forest.

Arthur had covered himself fairly well under the trench but he felt the ground jump with the force of the explosion. He could only pray the skinny corporal had made it. The shrapnel had fallen into the trenches and the Major was thankful nothing too heavy or sharp hit him.

The blast did however, make his ears ring and deafened him to everything else.

The Major never heard Dax and Cobb call for the advancement once the mine field was blown, but he saw the Army tank run over the ruined and smoking earth and fearlessly blast the tree line.

Cobb was pulling the Major to his feet as Arthur watched the broken band of Nazis surrender. Their bodies bloodied by the mine blast and later the cannon fire.

"Stand down!" Dax and Cobb shouted as some of the enlisted men started to beat the wounded prisoners. "Were under orders to take them alive!" Dax pulled off a privet who had knock a prisoner in the face with his riffle.

Arthur pulled out his silver cigarette case and opened it. He looked at his pretty wife and smiled. He didn't take part in the victory. His normally immaculate clothing was full of dirt from the blast and his hearing was still fuzzy. He decided to smoke one of his cigarettes and casually sat on the hood of a jeep. He was smoking and watching around forty prisoners being rounded up like cattle and a razor wire fence put around them. No tent for the prisoners and next to no medical care for the wounds the blast and gun fire had caused.

"Tree line is secure, Sir." Dax said with a grin. "Good to see married life hasn't stumped your sense of fun." He laughed.

Arthur only nodded and saw the skinny corporal coming to sit next to him. The major offered him one of his cigarettes and the two of them smoked in silence for a while.

"Told you it would work." Arthur said finally.

"What?" The young man shouted.

~ Ariadne couldn't wait to get on the boat to America. A few days with the Matron as a bunk-mate had made her stop procrastinating and she finally booked her passage.

She had said a tearful farewell to Doctor Kikie and he promised to write her. The older man hugging her close the way she almost remembered her father holding her as a little girl.

It occurred to her suddenly that she would not see her friends again. She was going to America and they were still in Europe. The last she saw of Trixie was her wedding day. She might never come back to France or London again.

Her voyage easy an uneventful as she carried only her little bag with her few clothes and small possessions. It suddenly occurred to her that this was the third time she was arriving in some strange country, alone with so very little to her name.

~ She had telegraphed Arthur's sister Beth that she would be arriving in New York that morning. Ariadne had wondered if this mysterious relative of her husbands' would truly be there. She might be better off getting a cab to a hotel. Meet the family on neutral ground. That was how enemies met in war time.

**I will post another chapter soon. Don't worry, this won't be a rehash of "When we were lost" I'm keeping the stuff I like.**

**I've also put pics up for my stories! I love that feature on Fanfic. I don't have them all, but I'm working on it. Tell me what you think.**

**Love yo faces! Kiss! Kiss!**


	36. Chapter 36

36.

~ The stylish young woman in the the gray tweed suit could be no one but Arthur's older sister. Beth was tall and lean like Arthur. She had that same careful style of dress the major possessed and she carried herself so easily that Ariadne felt frumpy and sloppy by comparison.

Ariadne tried to smooth out her hair, her wrinkled brown dress, at seeing this girl who looked like she stepped out of a magazine. Beth could have shared the screen with Ingrid Bergman and stolen the show with her grace and beauty.

"Are you Ariadne?" The stylish woman asked the senior nurse. A curious smile on her face.

Ariadne nodded and looked worriedly at the woman in her well fitted tweed suit. Her rich jewelry and even make up. _Make up._ In war time!

"I'm Elizabeth. But everyone calls me Beth. I'm so very pleased to meet you. We are so glad you have come home at last." The stylish woman said and Ariadne felt the tightness in her chest loosen.

Beth asked if Ariadne wanted to freshen up in the bathroom while she sent a telegram to Arthur.

"I want my brother to know you have arrived safely. He was born to worry." Beth laughed.

Ariadne realized she must look awful. Four days on that slow boat across the Atlantic hadn't made her look or smell good. Beth was no doubt being polite.

~ Beth didn't ask anything personal, to which Ariadne was grateful. She kept her questions very general.

"How was the trip? Goodness! Is this all the luggage you have? I wish I could travel so light."

The stylish woman wanted to know about Paris, but not about the occupation. She no doubt thought things had continued the same after the invasion.

"I would love to go back to Europe. After all this craziness is over of course." Beth said. "You must tell cook what kinds of food you enjoy." the stylish woman told her. "I want my new sister to feel at home."

Ariadne said very little as Beth did most of the talking.

The women were taken by a privet car out of the docks. Ariadne was surprised. She had suspected Arthur's family had money. Her Major only hinting at it. Speaking of his childhood privileges in a natural way. But she had no idea. The Rolls Royce that sat in the dirty ship yard was guarded by a privet driver and gleamed brightly with it's newness.

"Home, Drew." Beth said lazily.

Ariadne had never seen leather seating in a car before and had only ridden in a privet car half a dozen times. Including her outing with Arthur in the jeep. The Family had just gotten the big black car a year before the invasion and still they didn't use it much. Her uncle preferring to walk or bike.

"Now, when we get home, I'll show you to your room. I have no doubt you are exhausted after your long trip." Beth said taking off her dove gray gloves that matched her hat. The cabin of the car protecting them from the cold winter chill.

"Last summer, I was on a fund raising tour with some girlfriends, for the war effort you know. I was so exhausted when I got home, all I wanted to do was sleep. Well, _mother_ has a huge welcome home party waiting for me. I swear, I had to stay awake all night talking and keeping people entertained." Beth sighed at the memory. "You would think my mother, queen of high morals and manners, would know better."

Ariadne smiled. She knew Beth meant well, but it was a little hard to feel sorry for a girl like her.

"So, was Paris pleasant when you lived there? Was London pleasant? Was the trip pleasant?" Beth asked.

Ariadne felt herself relax some as she was grateful Beth didn't bombard her with questions about the rapid courtship and marriage to Arthur.

~ Ariadne had been glued to her window during the short ride into the city. All the people were so strange and different looking in New York. She had to bite her lip to keep from asking Beth to stop the car so she could get a better look at the people she had only ever read about.

"Wait till the war is over. The city won't be so empty." Beth assured her.

She was feeling tired and ready for a hot bath and sleep as the car drove the two women out of the city.

"You don't... I thought you lived in New York." Ariadne asked as the city melted away into country side.  
"We live up state, Dear." Beth said casually. Ariadne looked out at the rolling hills and watched the homes turn very elegant. Sitting on large plots of land and well tended gardens. Finally, they arrived at a stunning brick home with a long gated drive.

"You live _here_?" Ariadne gasped. Her Aunt's fine home looked much less impressive compared to this place.

"Be it ever so humble." Beth sighed. "Father had this built for Mother, as a wedding present. They like to live simple and managed without too many servants. We didn't want to be one of those families who always had to worry about staff under foot. That means there is only a cook, a driver and two maids. All of them leave after 8'clock."

Beth's casual attitude stunned Ariadne. It was as if Beth thought of herself as lower class because the staff didn't live in the house.

~ Ariadne had to use her cane to get out of the car.

"I'm sorry, I keep forgetting your leg is broken. Arthur telegraphed me about it. Those bombs sound horrible! Mother and I used to listen to the BBC and whenever I did my fund raising, I like to tell people that while they are safe at home with the lights on, there are decent people in London without power or water. All because they are brave enough to stand up to Hitler." Beth said in an obviously well practiced speech.

Ariadne tried to smile but failed. Compared to this place, London and Paris were worlds away. The lights shown brightly here in new York. The lifts and plumbing all worked. There were cars and food everywhere. It was as if Manhattan existed in some beautiful future.

"I hope you think of this place as your home." Beth said once they were inside the grand home.

Ariadne looking at all the art work and cherry wood paneling. Her sprites feeling sadder and sadder at the thought she might not be good enough for Arthur in these people's eyes.

Her father-in-law had bought this house as a _simple_ wedding present. All Arthur could give her was a bar of chocolate instead of an engagement ring.

"Mother will take some getting used to, but she grows on you." The stylish woman looked annoyed suddenly. "Like a fungus." She added sarcastically.

"What about your dad?" Ariadne asked brightly. Arthur always talked about his dad fondly. Always said Adam had been his favorite parent.

Beth took in a deep breath and Ariadne felt she had touched something she shouldn't have.

"Dad, passed away. It happened in August." The pretty socialite said.

"Oh." Ariadne gasped in horror. "Arthur didn't tell me."

"It's because he doesn't know." Beth said sharply. "It's the one thing mother and I do agree on. Arthur can't know until he's home. We think it would upset him too much. He has a job to do over there and that's what he needs to stay focused on." Beth said.

A stubborn bravery coming out in the well dressed young woman that Ariadne had seen in Arthur many times.

"I understand." Ariadne whispered. "How did it happen?"

Beth shrugged sadly.

"After Jacob, he was so depressed. He wouldn't eat. Wouldn't talk to anyone. He sat in front room looking at their pictures." Beth said nodding to a room to her right.

Ariadne had never seen a room so nicely decorated. It was dazzlingly beautiful. It's walls were lined with rich, tasteful wall paper. The furniture was nicer then even her Aunts had been.

"That's David and Jacob." Beth said nodding to the large marble fireplace. On the oak mantel were four large photographs. Each in their own silver frame.

Ariadne walked with her cane to inspect them and felt her lips bloom into a smile. They were obviously photographs of the four grown children of the house. The two oldest boys in uniform, Beth looking glamorously casual and finally, Arthur.

Arthur looked so much younger in this picture. He had just finished officer's candidate school and he looked so wide eyed and innocent. Not at all the warrior she had come to know.

The other two young men were obviously his brothers. They could be no one else. The family resemblance so strong that Ariadne had to look closely to make sure that the carefree the Naval officer wasn't really her husband. That the handsome pilot wasn't really her handsome Major. The older bother's had a black ribbon tied to their frames. A sign that they had passed away and the family was holding onto grief.

"Arthur looks like his brothers." Ariadne told Beth as she looked at the young men. Dead and gone from this world

"Really?" Beth laughed.

Ariadne could see why Beth didn't believe her. Arthur looked so youthful and almost childlike in his picture. A boy only _playing_ soldier.

"I guess the war changed him." Beth shrugged.

Ariadne looked at her new sister-in-law. Beth seemed to very open and honest. She wasn't the type to hide behind a wall of self imposed strength like Arthur, or be cold to her like the Aunt was. Beth promised to always be honest and direct. Even if it was to a fault.

"When Arthur was a baby, my friends and I used to dress him up like a girl." Beth said casually. As though Arthur could never be anything more then her baby brother.

Ariadne laughed at the precious memories this broken family still had. Still held onto despite a war that had hurt them so badly.


	37. Chapter 37

37.

~ It was late in the evening that Ariadne finally woke up. She had slept soundly in the clean, little guest room provided for her. The home was comfortable and she had been surprised they had so much electricity as well as electrical things. So many years of living with air raids and bombs had made the pretty nurse used to a world without lights that snapped on with ease. During the most horrific parts of the blitz, no one had power or even gas. It was a lucky thing to even have running water. Those days, it had felt like the world was coming to an end as they cleared rubble off streets so wounded could be brought in. The nurses having to boil water on a stove to sterilize instruments.

Beth seemed to take it for granted that when she flicked a switch, the power came on.

It was strange to think of Arthur growing up here. With all these fine old paintings on the walls and antiques everywhere. Paintings and old photographs of his relatives always telling him who he was and where he came from. She found herself envying him for that.

Ariadne put on her blue dress. Still the best she had. She washed her face and tired to fix her hair. Her hands lacking the skill Trixie always had. She wanted to give her new family the best impression possible.

She was creeping downstairs when she heard voices.

"What was Arthur thinking!" A woman's voice carried up to the second floor. Her voice was so strong and forceful and it easily reached Ariadne as she waited in the servant's stairs. Afraid to move.

"I do not care if she is _civil_! How could Arthur do such a thing to me?" Cried the woman.

"Mother! Calm down!" Beth was saying. "You know my brother would never rush into such a situation lightly."

"He is _married_ Elizabeth! Married! To a common whore he met in France! A woman with no breeding and no education!" The lady was crying.

Ariadne peeked unseeing into the front room. Beth was sitting reserved and lady like on an expensive couch. A handsome, tall woman was pacing about the room. She had Arthur's height and formidable stride. She had to be his mother with her menacing dark eyes that the pretty nurse had remembered from the major. That day at the front when he found she had gone with the other nurses to help the wounded. Lydia wore the same angry hard scowl her son did that day.

"Ariadne is not a _whore_, Mother." Beth said calmly. "Men don't _marry_ whores and send them to their family. A whore is someone who they pay, use and then leave."

"_Elizabeth!_ Where is your composure? Discussing women who sell themselves, as if you know of such things!" The mother cried.  
"You brought up whores first, Mother." Beth said with Arthur's smile. "Anyhow, Ariadne is a lovely girl. She worked as a nurse in London and Paris. She was wounded helping our boys when an air raid hit. She obviously has a good heart."

"A _nurse_!" The other exclaimed. Her hand to her heart. "Don't think I don't know what that means!"

"Enlighten me, Mother." Beth said lazily as she picked up some embroidery and started stitching. Barely giving the older woman a glance.

"Nurses only become nurses to seduce men. They are one step above prostitutes!" The lady of house exclaimed. "They are filled with lust and climb on top of the poor wounded men, many of whom are married, and are _carnal_ with them!"

"Hum. I wonder if it's too late for me to become a nurse." Beth said thoughtfully.

"Elizabeth!" The mother cried.

Ariadne had heard enough. She coughed loudly and let it be known she was in the room.

"Oh, Ariadne." Beth said with a warm smile. "Did you sleep well? I was just about to wake you for dinner."

"Yes, I slept very well." Ariadne said not looking at Arthur's mother.

Instead, she shifted uncomfortably on her good leg. Her cast feeling heavy from her careful trip down the stairs.

"Ariadne, I would like you to meet my mother, Lydia." Beth said standing up and waving at the formidable lady.

"Charming." Arthur's mother said coldly. "You may call me, Madam."

"The servant's call you _Madam_." Beth snapped. "Ariadne, please call her _Mother_ like I do. Don't worry, she doesn't like me to call her that either."

Arthur's mother huffed and looked over Ariadne as if she meant to buy her. She was wearing her best dress and tried not to think about her lack of stockings and her worn out shoes. Her only jewelery was her wedding band that suddenly looked clumsy and cheap where before, it had been her favorite possession next to her compact. Compared to these richly clothed women, she looked worn and poor.

"_Ariadne_ is it?" the lady asked. Putting a mocking emphasis on her name. "In the future, we _dress_ for dinner." She said curtly.

"Mother, let's not show our fangs just yet." Beth scolded lazily. "Let the new member of the pack decide if she likes us first."

~ Dinner was a cold affair. Lydia barely saying a word as Beth talked about the fund raising she was doing for the hospital and war effort.

"I have been so exhausted." Beth sighed. "In the morning, I have to go and make sure the menu's are right for our latest luncheon. I've already had to send them back_ twice_. For our boys on the front, nothing is too difficult. I keep telling myself that." Beth said bravely.

Ariadne had to bite her lip hard to keep her thoughts from becoming vocal. Beth promised to be a true friend. She didn't want to upset her by telling her if she really wanted to help the troops, she would stop throwing silly parties that brought in very little money and volunteer at the hospital. Or the family could sell that fancy car and provide meals to starving orphans for a month.

Beth obviously liked her little parties. Something to dress up for and see and be seen at. All the while telling herself she was helping bring her brother back home safe.

Ariadne tried not to grumble about how the money Beth no doubt spent on a party dress, could have gone to buying a box of badly needed penicillin.

Beth seemed to read her thoughts.

"Ariadne, you must think I'm so silly. I talk about my fund raising while you were _there_. You were really doing some good." Beth said kindly. "I would have given anything to have joined the WASPS or even done nurses' training.  
"Women of this family do not work outside of the home." Lydia said harshly.

Beth threw her mother a look.  
"Dad had been sick for a long time and I couldn't leave him. You understand." Beth told the pretty nurse.

"I understand." Ariadne said sadly.

In a way, it was lucky Ariadne had no ties to anyone. No one who kept her from doing what she wanted. Who told her she had to stay at home when she wanted to do something more. Beth wanted to do more like her brothers, but she had too many obligations at home.  
"Arthur and I were thinking I might try medical school. Just to see if I could make it as a doctor." Ariadne said suddenly. A part of her knowing full well how Lydia would react. She wasn't disappointed.

The lady of the house almost chocked on her soup.

"I think that's a fine idea." Beth said with a wide smile. "Arthur was always so enlightened. He got it from our Dad's side of the family. Dad's mother was a suffragette back in the day. Got arrested and everything. We were always so proud of her. I can show you her arrest record after dinner. She took the most glamorous mug shots."

Lydia seemed to restrain herself and glared at Beth.

"I can see this isn't going to work out." The lady muttered.

~ After that, Lydia kept her side of the conversation neutral. She didn't ask about Ariadne's family or work. She wanted to know only if things were pleasant and didn't want to hear about things that were not. Ariadne was used to the loud, friendly gossip of other nurses in the mess halls. Not this cold and distant conversations over the five course dinner.

"The family took a trip to Paris before the war broke out." Beth said fondly. "It was a lovely city. Arthur had just graduated high school and I was at Wellesley."

"Nice school." Ariadne said savoring the roast beef. _Beef!_ In war time! She hadn't seen real beef in years.

"Yes, they give a girl all the important skills for catching a husband and keeping him looking good to his peers." Beth huffed.

"And yet, you still failed miserably!" Lydia chided. "I can't tell you how many suitors I had arranged. Stupid, headstrong child!"

"Don't mind her." Beth said coolly. "She's shocked at the state of women theses days. How we can dress ourselves and vote, have careers and babies with no husbands. It's one of the four horseman I'm sure."

"Elizabeth!" Lydia scolded sharply.

The lady of the house sat back in her chair and tried to compose herself.

"By the way, Linda will be coming over for dinner tomorrow night." She said stiffly.

Beth stared in horror at her mother.

"What? Why?" The young woman asked. Ariadne looked between the two women. Not understanding.

"Linda is my friend. If I was _my_ friend in _my_ home, I think I'm allowed that privilege." Lydia told her daughter.

"Linda is Arthur's ex-girlfriend." Beth hissed with a nervous look at Ariadne. The pretty nurse suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Linda has been subjected to a horrible tragedy." Lydia told Beth without acknowledging Ariadne. "Her poor husband past away last year. She is a widow."

"The old geezer had one foot in the grave with that gold digger married him!" Beth exclaimed.  
"Elizabeth!" Lydia scolded.

"Mother, it is not apporite for Arthur's wife to have dinner with his ex-girlfriend." Beth said. "I'll call Linda and cancel."

"You most certainly will not. I desire the both of you at dinner. Linda is a fine girl and she wants to meet Ariadne. I have told her all about this... situation and she had been most sympathetic." Lydia said curtly.

~ Ariadne was happy to go back to her room. Arthur's mother and sister had exhausted her. Beth had promised to take her shopping in the morning for some new clothes.

"It's the only way to keep mother happy. We can't have my brother's wife looking like a normal person." Beth laughed.

"I have a little money." Ariadne said. "We can go to the Woolworth."

Trixie had told her that was where she always shoped.

Beth held back a horrified laugh.  
"Oh no, my darling sister." Beth said pityingly. "We don't shop there. We'll go to Bloomingdales for your things. I don't doubt you'll need new everything. And don't worry about the money, God knows we have plenty of it. Mother will allow the expense so long as you look like one of us."

"That's very kind." Ariadne said blushing.

"No, it's not kind. It's how mother is. Appearance is everything to her."

"Of course." Ariadne said as the two women were alone in her room.

Beth was about to leave when she stopped at the door.

"Is Arthur... I mean, was he _well_ the last you saw him?" Beth asked timidly. "He doesn't tell me very much in his telegrams and letters.

"Very well." Ariadne assured her. "He's been promoted to Major and received the Distinguished Service Cross and Bronze star for heroism."

"Really?" Beth exclaimed her eyes lighting up.

Ariadne sat down on her bed and pulled out her compact. She carefully unfolded the newspaper clipping and showed it to Beth.

"My French is so rusty." Beth laughed as she looked at Arthur's grumpy picture. The pretty nurse read over the article. Ariadne showed her the few photos of her and her husband. Arthur looking heroic and happy in his dress uniform. His medals weighing him down.

"I don't think I've ever seen my brother so happy." Beth said with a sad smile. Ariadne could tell the fine comportment of Arthur's sister was cracking a little.

"It must have been a shock to hear he was getting married." Ariadne said with a laugh.

"That's putting it mildly." Beth said with a laugh. "Arthur never does things like this. Sensible to the last. You must really be something special."


	38. Chapter 38

38.

~ Evidence of the Nazi's crimes were in burnt down death camps and torn apart rail road cars. The guards had tried to burn home made films depicting camps before the American's arrived.

"Trying to cover up what they did." Cobb said sadly looking at the large furnaces used to burn bodies.

Arthur's attention was diverted to the piles of shoes still in the train station.

"They made them take off their shoes." Arthur said numbly. "Why... why did they make them take off their shoes?"

This fact troubled the Major more then anything else. The shoes were piled in one large heap. Men, women and children's shoes. Their owners nothing but ash now. Nothing remained of the people killed here but dust. Dust and shoes.

"Major." Cobb said sternly. "Can't focus on that. We have prisoners to interrogate."

Snow had covered the camp as the soldiers lined up the SS guards. All of the Nazis trying to plead with their captures. The American troops were growing frustrated by the fact they couldn't understand the Nazi guards.

"What are they saying?" Cobb ask.

Arthur shook his head. He had seen too much to care about the cries of mercy from men who would kill women and children. He turned away from the scared looking guards and didn't listen to them saying over and over.

"We were following orders."

~ Ariadne was thrilled by New York. Beth had their driver stop at a very expensive store in the heart of Manhattan.

A shop girl rushed over to them as soon as the two women came in. It seemed Beth was a regular and all the shop girls knew her and were more then happy to help Ariadne find new clothing.  
"Um, Beth?" Ariadne said looking over the elegant selection of fashions. Each more lovely then the last. "These clothes..." She looked at her sister-in-law helplessly.

"You don't like them? Your so petite, I've always wanted to be petite, you can wear such cute things." Beth said worriedly.

"No, their lovely. Really, they are. It's just... I um..." Ariadne floundered.  
"I said don't worry about the cost." Beth said. "I know my brother. He would want us to take care of you. He would want you to have nice things to wear. Our family sets very high standards in fashion." She assured her. "We would rather go _naked_ then dress poorly." She added with a smile.

Ariadne didn't laugh. The cost of one skirt alone was more then she made in a week.  
"No, I know Arthur would want you to do this for me. It's just that, I don't know how long I'll be able to... um wear these... these clothes." She said fearfully. Her eyes ducking away from Beth.  
"Ariadne..." Beth gasped. "Your in a family way?" She said with a wide smile.

Ariadne looked sadly back at Beth sheepishly.

"Oh my!" Beth exclaimed. "That's so wonderful!"

"Arthur and I... we were only together for a few days after the wedding." Ariadne said shyly running a hand over the dark red dress Beth had picked out.

"Does Arthur know?" Beth asked.

Ariadne shook her head.

"You have to write him as soon as possible and tell him. He'll be so happy! Honeymoon babies are lucky." Beth said. Her eyes dancing with excitement.  
"Your mother is going to think I trapped Arthur into marrying me." Ariadne said sadly.  
"Don't worry about what the old dragon thinks. If she gives you any trouble I'll give her something to really worry about." Beth said easily.  
"I don't know how Arthur will react to the news." Ariadne admitted hobbling on her broken leg. Leaning on the cane Arthur had given her before they left. "I mean, we barely knew each other when we got married. Were still newlyweds."

"He will be happy. I promise you." Beth whispered taking her hand.  
"Men like the _idea_ of children more then the reality of them." Ariadne said.

"Arthur isn't most men. At least not after what you told me." Beth assured her. "Ariadne, this is really wonderful news. We have had so much loss in our family since the start of the war. I've lost my two brothers and my father. Everyday we worry over Arthur coming home. Now, this is a new chance for all of us. A chance to heal our family."

Ariadne looked hopefully at her sister-in-law.  
"Now." Beth said brushing back happy tears. "We need to go to the third floor and pick out baby things. My brother's legacy has to have the most beautiful nursery on the east coast. We can get you some maternity clothes first and after lunch, we can make an appointment with the best doctor in Manhattan."

Ariadne was cheered by Beth's excitement. She was starting to think that maybe everything would be alright.  
"I guess I'll have to wait till the baby's born for medical school." She admitted reluctantly.

"Nothing to stop you from at least taking a few classes. This is New York, were open minded here. And then when the baby comes, that's what nannies and Aunt Beth is for. We can go to Western Union and send Arthur a telegram. Give him something to fight for." Beth said happily.

"Can we wait a little while to tell your mother?" Ariadne asked leaning on her sister-in-law.

~ "Sir." The skinny corporal said later that evening. "You have a telegram."

Arthur took the neatly sealed envelope from his Corporal and dismissed him.  
"Well, look at Mr. Fancy! With his telegram!" Eames teased as he looked back at his hand of cards. The Americans had traveled with the British unit to a small village and Eames had provided his friends with illegally procured drinks and cigarettes.

After days of grueling interrogations and reporting back to command about the brunt down death camps, Arthur was feeling depressed. The Major couldn't take his mind off the shoes left in a pile at the train station.

Men's shoes, ladies heels, children's sandals. Hundreds if not thousands had faced their deaths here in these camps. The wardens and guards of the camp had been ordered to torch the place before the Allies rolled in. They confessed they were just following orders when they gassed, shot and brutalized helpless men, women and children.

"What does it say?" Eames asked rubbing two poker chips together as Cobb and Dax laughed. The four friends engaged in a much needed break from war and were immersed in another poker game. Eames announcing that Dax and Cobb were securing his old age fund.

Arthur sighed and reluctantly opened the telegram. Nothing but bad news arrived in a telegram. His family received news his brother had died at Pearl in a telegram, and when Jacob had died over the Pacific. Nothing good arrived in a telegram.

He said a silent prayer and opened it.

Arthur.

I am safe in New York with your family.

I miss you.

I hope you are well.

Found out recently I am expecting.

Baby is due in July.

Love. Ariadne.

Arthur had to re-read the last few lines again. _Baby?_ His mind swam at the impossible notion. Expecting? Baby due in July? He was going to be a father?

"Well, what's the word?" Eames asked.

Arthur looked up. His eyes wide.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" Cobb asked worriedly.  
"Um... Ariadne's pregnant. Were going to have a baby." Arthur said in disbelief. His words suddenly making the thing real.

A shout of joy erupted out of the officer's tent as Dax, Eames and Cobb were shouting at all their men to celebrate the news that the Major had a pregnant wife back home.

Eames had "confiscated" a case of champagne from Paris and poured it liberally into the tin cups of the enlisted men as Arthur held tightly to the telegram with news of his baby.

"Congratulations, Sir!" His men shouted happily. Among all the death they had discovered in this haunted place, news of a baby was more welcomed then anything.

Ariadne.

Received your telegram.

So happy.

Going to stay up all night celebrating.

I needed this good news.

Want to come home to you.

Missing you.

Tell Mother and Beth take care of both of you.

Arthur.

~ Ariadne and Beth only had to wait an hour before Arthur's response crackled over the wires. They had almost left the telegram office when the gentleman stopped them.

"Here it comes." He said handing her the typed note.

Ariadne read and re-read her husbands response. A smile spreading over her face.  
"See? I told you." Beth said with a smile.


	39. Chapter 39

39.

~ Ariadne would never admit it, but she loved the new clothes Beth had bought for her. The fabric was rich and well put together. She had never had clothes this nice or fashionable before. Clothes that made her figure so appealing and feminine. She almost looked like another girl. A girl who didn't walk out of France half dead and on bleeding feet. A girl who never hid from air raids, or cleaned bloodied soldiers. A girl who never drifted alone in the world most of her life. In these clothes, she was someone else.

Ariadne reveled in the feel of a pretty tweed dress she would wear to dinner. It was a beautiful, warm fabric and she wished she had something like this while in London. She marveled at how her mood was lifted by new things.

Beth had waned to splurge on a whole new wardrobe, but Ariadne insisted on only getting the basics. Shirts, skirts, only one new dress and a new pair of shoes. She needed nothing else.

"I'm going to have to teach you how to buy clothes." Beth joked.

They both agreed it would be for the best not to tell Lydia about the pregnancy. The whole situation of her last son marrying some stranger had upset her. Knowing that there was a baby involved would only cause the lady of the house more distress.

For now, they had a dinner to get through.

~ "_Ariadne,_ tell us of your duties as a nurse. I hear they can be quite daunting. Cleaning people up and all that. It's something I could never do." Linda said with a shutter as the three women sat down for dinner.

Ariadne looked up from her plate. She was enjoying the mashed potatoes the cook had brought out and was embarrassed to feel judgmental eyes on her as she enjoyed good food. Linda using a special emphasis on her name. Teasing her.

"Oh, um." She fumbled as she tried to sit up more lady like. Coping Beth's easy grace at the dinner table. "Not too much to tell." She said meekly.

"It has to be hard work. My dear Henry wanted to get married, so what was I to do? A wife finds herself limited in war work." Linda laughed in a sweet innocent voice. "Poor Henry, God rest his soul." She added casting a pious look at Lydia who nodded approvingly.

Ariadne took a good look at Linda. She was everything Ariadne was not. Tall, and with magical red hair and bright green eyes. Her arms and legs were long and her clothes were even nicer then Beth's. She was a stunning woman. Clearly better suited to Arthur then Ariadne. Anyone could see that.

Linda laughed.

"I thought about nursing, but I mean, I'm not very good at cleaning up after all that sickness. I'll leave that to people who are good at that kind of work."

Ariadne could feel the thinly veiled insult coming.

"Like you, Dear." Linda said happily to Ariadne. "I'm so glad you have a profession to fall back on. One never knows what to expect in this uncertain world. We don't know what will happen when the war is over. It must be a comfort to know you won't be destitute."

"She won't be _destitute_." Beth said lazily. "When Arthur is home he will go back to the firm. In fact, Arthur has been encouraging her to go to medical school."

"A doctor?" Linda asked in a too sweet voice. "How _modern_. Personally I would never had neglected my Henry for a silly career. Family is the most important thing." She said looking at Lydia.

"It certainly is." Lydia agreed.

"And as women, we are the heart of the family. It's selfish to pursue interests that would take us away from our husbands and children." Linda added.

"Women are managing homes, families and work just fine right now." Beth said glaring at Linda.

"Oh Beth, you and your silly ideas." Linda scolded. "This is _war time_. The men are away. Once their home again, things will go back to normal."

"I worry about the home Arthur will come back to." Lydia said sadly.

"Don't worry, Lydia." Linda said soothingly. "When Arthur is home, we can sort out everything."

Ariadne felt there was a conspiratorial air between Lydia and Arthur's ex-girlfriend.

"When my brother gets home, I'll imagine the two of you will find a nice home nearby. I want to visit you." Beth said brightly to Ariadne.

"Oh, I hope so." Ariadne said with a smile.

"I bet Arthur would love the company of your visits, Beth. With his wife at... _work_." Linda said 'work' with an sigh.

Ariadne didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to defend herself against these strangers. She couldn't steel her spine against the catty insults and plotting of women who she didn't know. Women who had money, and family.

If she talked back, Lydia might just fly into a rage and throw her out of the house. Then where would she go?

~ The doctor Beth had found was a pleasant, capable man who told Ariadne gently that, despite healing from a broken leg, she should count on being a new mother in summer.

Ariadne slept peacefully in her guest room at night and enjoyed fresh foods and other luxuries that she hadn't had since the war started. Her one pain, was that Arthur was not there with her.

Ariadne worried that while she was warm and well fed, her husband might be cold and hungry. She had terrible thoughts of him left for dead in a ditch or worse, captured by the enemy.

Beth told her to stop thinking about it. That such thoughts would be bad for the baby and create a sad child.

~ Arthur was cold. He had never remembered being this cold in his life. A wintery snow storm had stopped the advancement dead and the men were forced to settle in a small village outside of Germany. Another few days and they would march into Hitler's heart.

The American and British forces had not wanted to separate. Instead, blazing a trail right though the worst of the desolation.

"From what I hear, the Red Army is closing in on Berlin as well. We may get to meet some Russians." Eames said as Arthur tried to warm his hands up enough to write back to Ariadne.

Her newest letter was about her and Beth shopping for the baby and starting classes as NYU. He had no idea what his mother thought about the prospect of a grandchild and a daughter-in-law in med school. He suspected his wife and sister hadn't told her any of these recent developments.

He scratched her name on the fine white paper and tried to think of something to say to her.

Over the past few days he had seen horrible things. Bodies, piled like old socks in liberated death camps. He saw the naked bodies of skeletal men, women and children. All emaciated, all hairless.

In one rail station, the helpless victims were all executed while trying to flee from a cattle car train. Their bodies left to rot as delicate white snow fell on them.

Cobb had taken all of it especially hard as Arthur felt the coldness of the winter seep into his heart. Protecting it from feeling too much.

"My wife, my children. I can't seem to remember their faces anymore. I want to see their beautiful faces again." Cobb said as if in a trance.

"You will." Arthur said numbly. "Their safe and sound back home. Their safer there then anywhere else in the world right now."

"I know. I just... I want to go home. I have to get back home to my children. Their still so young. My boy, he doesn't even know me. I miss my wife, I never should have left her." Cobb said as snow fell over the two men.

~ Arthur blinked. He couldn't write to his wife about what he was seeing here. Couldn't burden her with the images of so much death and destruction. All those shoes in a pile. Bodies left to rot in clumps till they didn't even look human anymore. So much life, just thrown away.

He knew he had to lie. He had to lie, and make her believe the lie. Make her never question it.

_Ariadne,_

_ I don't think I'll miss the Army when I'm home with you and the baby again. I don't see myself missing the food, or the marching, or sleeping in tents. The only good thing about the Army was it did get me a cute nurse in Paris. _

_ I miss you so much. If I had just one wish, I would wish I was back home with you. I wish I could be there with you as you prepare for our child to be born. _

_ I think the war will be over very soon. It feels like our enemy has nowhere left to run. It feels like those bullies are showing that they really are cowards. _

_ Kiss the little one for me and tell Beth and Mother that I am well. _

_ When you go to sleep tonight, wrap yourself up warm and tight and think of me. Wishing I could hold you. _

_ Arthur_

Arthur addressed the envelope and mailed it. He opened his cigarette case and looked at the sepia photo of Ariadne. Frozen forever on the Paris streets with him by her side. Her telegram about the baby tucked behind it.

~ A few days later, as Arthur and his men had made another advancement, an ambushed happened. He should have seen it coming. Should have suspected the desperate actions of the enemy would lead to this. Their victories had made him and his men complacent and careless.

A field they were marching over was too still. Too silent. Like a graveyard where not even the wind would stir the trees.

Suddenly, their tank ran aground into an unseen ditch and almost tipped over. The tank's guns facing down to the ground when the attack happened. Arthur barely had enough time to realize a trap had been dug for the heavy tank to fall into before the tree line lit up with gun fire. Hard bullets cutting down the men around him. Puffs of red blood hitting the air as his men were practically sawed in half by machine gun fire.

The gun fire was hot and relentless as Arthur and Cobb ducked down into the trench with their tank. Their men firing back as the Major drew his side arm and he and Cobb shot back at the dark shapes in the trees. The tank protected them from the worst of the fire fight as Arthur called to his men to surrender.

He heard Cobb shouting in pain and took a sharp breath at seeing dark red blood on white snow. The colonel had been shot in the leg.

"_Sir?_" The skinny Corporal shouted back. Fear written plainly on his face as a man next to him was hit in the neck and killed. His contrasting sharply on the white snow.

"_We surrender!_" Arthur growled taking out the white handkerchief he had used so often when Ariadne cried. He pined it on the barrel of his riffle and waved the white make shift flag in the air.

He knew he had to do it. Cobb was wounded, he couldn't see Dax and the field was carpeted with the blood and bodies of his men.

The Nazis stopped their fire at the Major's shouts of: "Stop! Wir Ergeben uns!"

"Sir, were just giving up?" The skinny Corporal said looking scared as the Nazis advanced out of the trees. The band of them holding weapons trained on Arthur's few remaining men. Cobb was gasping hard at the wound to his leg.

"They have us out maned and out gunned Corporal." Arthur said soberly. "They will kill us all if we don't."

~ Out of over 300 American and British troops that had been victims of the ambush. Arthur counted only 60 to have survived the fray. He surrendered his remaining men and their weapons to the enemy.

The Nazis were barking at them. Asking who the officers were. The trained response to all of them was to point to one of the dead. Never revealing that Arthur or Cobb were the only officers left now. The Colonel and Major dressed like enlisted men.

Arthur helped Cobb to stand as their captures shot and killed the most critically wounded.

"_Walk_, Cobb." Arthur said harshly as the colonel leaned on the major. "If they think your too badly hurt, they'll kill you." The Major searched the bloodied snow for Lieutenant Eames and didn't see him among the living or the dead.

'_Bastard had better make it out and get help._' He thought as the Nazis made the survivors march into the cold darkness. Arthur recognized the dead, staring eyes of Dax as they marched past the bodies of their brothers in arms. The enemy leaving their comrades in the snow. The Major turned away. Not wanting to remember his friend this way. His now clouded eyes looking out from a lifeless body.

~ An ocean away, Ariadne woke up from a nightmare.


	40. Chapter 40

40.

~ Ariadne was breathing hard. Something was wrong. She could feel the marrow in her bones hurt and her skin shivered from a prickle of coldness. As if some specter had floated past her, tainting her with it's grim shadow.

She had been dreaming she was a winter crow. Her wings dark and beautiful in flight. She dreamed of a forest clearing that was covered in a thick blanket of snow as her feathers contrasted sharply to the world of white and gray.

She peered closer to the clearing and saw it was dotted with red. The red coming from bodies left to rot in the stillness of winter. Curious, and unafraid, she flew closer to the red snow and peered and the bodies. The young men laying broken and lifeless as the snow fell on them, covering them.

She recognized Dax. His eyes were cloudy from death taking him away. His mouth open in shock at having his young life end so sharply. She could smell the blood on the snow as she flew closer.

_ Arthur, Arthur, Arthur._

She thought as she hunted for her Major. Where are you? Where are you? She flew into the forest but had her flight cut short. She gave out a loud caw as she realized there were monsters hiding in the trees.

When she woke, she was still shaking, still afraid of the shadows in her safe little room. The dream had felt so real. She could still see that lonely snow covered field. Still see Dax's face as he stared back at her through dead eyes.

"Arthur." She whispered his name as she wrapped herself back into her blankets. A heavy snow had started to fall outside her window. It make the dream seem so much closer.

_Arthur, Arthur, Arthur._

She thought. Too afraid to say his name out loud again.

~ The prisoners were marched for over a day. They were given no food and not even allowed to stop and rest. Cobb was in horrible pain as Arthur and another man took turns helping the colonel to walk.

At one point, one of their captures noticed Cobb's limb and Arthur had to quickly explain that he had just twisted his ankle. The major kept his words simple and broken. He didn't want the enemy to know he could understand their language.

When they shouted to him, asking if he understood, he shrugged helplessly and talked in English.

They were given no food and not even allowed to build any fires to keep the men warm as they were forced to march onward. The menacing guns held to their backs.

To his credit, Arthur didn't lose a single man on the death march. When they finally arrived at a small compound, the major sighed with relief.

"We can finally rest." Arthur whispered to Cobb. The colonel nodding as the major helped him to sit down on the floor of a worn and smelly barrack. There were bunks used for beds here. But there was no bedding or mattresses. Nothing to provide any comfort. Not even a stove to help keep the prisoners warm.

Arthur and his men were all forced to crowd together in one barrack. The smell in this place was horrible. It smell of decaying things, waste and death. If the cold didn't kill them, the smell would.

"Let me see your leg." Arthur whispered to Cobb. The colonel nodding and trying not to flinch as he allowed the major to roll up his pant leg. The wound to the colonel had been superficial. But the day of walking had torn it. Made it worse.

"They took out med kits, sir." The skinny corporal whispered as the men stayed close together, trying to keep warm.

"Get me some snow." Arthur whispered. "We have to slow some of the bleeding. Clean it as best we can.

~ None of the prisoners or their captures saw Eames. When he wanted to, the lieutenant could stay hidden very well.

~ Eames had felt something was wrong the moment he stepped into the field. The cawing of a massive crow had made him look to the trees. An old story he had heard as a boy where a winter time crow was really death in disguise.

He had wandered a little away from the troops as he heard it's loud shrieks in the thick black trees. No one noticed he had left them. No one noticed he wasn't there. He could feel something was wrong. Something was in the trees. Watching, waiting, breathing.

The lieutenant was suddenly scared. His nerves making him ready his rifle and aim it as the monsters he couldn't see. Suddenly, a large crow took flight from the trees and swooped over him. It's talons almost scratching him. The lieutenant ducked into the snow as it cawed angrily at him and dove again. Eames was filled with fear of the attacking bird. The myth of it really being death come for him, and scurried to a bank trees. The snow giving way and almost burying him.

That was when he heard the gunfire. The shouting. The return fire. More shouting. Then a stillness. He lay there in the snow. That menacing crow swooping over him again. Flying low. Keeping him pinned into the snow and unable to move for fear it would attack him.

The crow watched him through its' sharp, beady eyes as he lay in the ground covered under the white powder. He strained his ears to listen for gun fire again. Listen for any kind of noise. He heard nothing, which scared him most of all.

With one loud caw, the crow flew away. Dusting snow off a branch with it.

Eames was on his feet. He rushed out of the forest with reckless speed. His riffle at the ready as she fell into the clearing. He was on his stomach as he saw the tank had tipped into a ditch and almost rolled over. It was completely useless now. Nothing stirred and moved in the clearing as he was tempted to call out to whoever was still there.

The quite of the field made him stop. Made his voice stick in his throat. Nothing moved or made a sound here. It was empty and deadly still.

He heard a loud cawing and looked up. The crow from the forest was flying overhead. It's dark flight easy to see in the white, cloudy sky.

The bird seemed unafraid as Eames slowly stood. He finally saw the red snow, and the bodies.

The lieutenant wandered around his fallen comrades helplessly as he searched each face. Hoping that he could find at least on alive when he found Dax. Snowflakes dusting his face. Eames was afraid to even touch him. His friend was staring out at the world thought vacant eyes. His skin already gray from death's touch.

It occurred to him that Arthur and Cobb were not among the dead. Several of his own people were missing as well. They must have been taken prisoner, and any hope of finding their tracks was slowly disappearing with the falling snow.

From the footprints, Eames was able to deduce the enemy had shot at his people from the trees. Then marched out into the clearing. He saw American bootprints and blood forming a trail into the woods.

A fear griped his belly as he was all alone in this place. He had forgotten about the crow and when it made it's horrible caw at him, he rushed into the forest after his people.

~ No one saw him. No one heard him as he followed the bootprints and blood. He tore up a red shirt and tied it's scraps to the tree limbs to find his way back again. The lieutenant was used to snow. All those winters he had spent skiing with his father not far from here. The snow did not slow him down and he knew just how to move in it. How to hide in it.

But he was not used to the horrible march the enemy made his comrades endure. Eames huddled behind trees, bushes and in ditches until his people were marched into a small camp.

The lieutenant took in everything about the camp. Twenty guards, four barracks, all of them small. No plumbing in the barracks. Only one guard house. This place was most likely a small farm before the war. Smoke coming out of the guard house chimney promised a place of warmth, but not for the prisoners.

The lieutenant circled around the camp and tried to find a weak point. Tried to find away in.

It was at the cries of that same crow that he started. Like a frightened rabbit, he jumped and looked around.

'_Get away from here._' The giant bird seemed to say from it's hiding spot among the branches. '_Go for help, but get away now. If they find you, they will kill you. Get away. This place is death.'_

Eames didn't have to be told twice. He believed in such things as spirits. Of unearthly beings that would tell him things no mortal could see or know. Before Dunkirk, he had a dream of rescuing a small girl who's feet had been bitten by snakes. That her feet were bleeding and she was sitting on the grass all alone and helpless. That when he saved her, she turned into a beautiful enchantress. That was how he knew he had to save Ariadne. No matter what the cost, he had to save that girl with the bleeding feet.

He ran back to the clearing. One of the jeeps had been abandoned in the clearing. The trees too thick to be taken by the enemy into the forest.

The Lieutenant wasn't a very good driver and looked worriedly at the controls. He started the jeeps and tried to avoid running over the bodies of his fallen soldiers.

He didn't hear that crow again as he fled from that field of death in search of help.

**Today, my husband and I have been married 11 years!**


	41. Chapter 41

41.

~ Ariadne didn't tell anyone about her nightmare. Things were difficult enough at her new home without making Lydia worry over Arthur. Deep down, Ariadne knew something had happened to her husband. Something was terribly wrong. She felt an uncomfortable knot twist in her body after her dream.

~ Linda was at dinner every night now. She and Lydia politely ignored Ariadne as they talked about fund raising and other very trivial matters.

"Oh _Ariadne,_ I was hoping you could come with us for a fund raising party. It would really be fun if you could wear your little nursing costume to. I think everyone would get a kick out of it." Linda said brightly.

Ariadne felt the steel come back to her spine.

"It's not a _costume_. It's a uniform." Ariadne said stiffly. "I'm not sure your friends would want to see someone who is actually helping with the war effort."

Both Lydia and Arthur's ex looked shocked as Ariadne moved her chair out. She had never not eaten everything on her plate before, but today, she left her dinner untouched.

"Please excuse me." Ariadne said leaving the table as Beth tried to call her back.

She put her on winter coat on and went to sit in the outdoor gazebo. It was freezing cold outside. Snow covering everything in a stillness where nothing moved or made a sound. Like the world was deeply asleep and might never wake up.

She was cold and hungry. She _wanted_ to be cold and hungry right now. Wanted to feel that gnawing inner pain that Arthur must be feeling. Wanted to suffer like he was. It wasn't until an hour later Beth came and begged her to come back inside and eat.

"Arthur wouldn't want you catching a cold." The socialite said gently. "We have to think of the baby."

Ariadne's tears were freezing on her cheeks.

"Beth... I think something has happened to Arthur." She cried softly.

Beth took her hand. Pulling her back to the warmth of the house.

"I know. I feel it to. I've always sensed it when something is wrong with my brothers. When David died at Pearl, when Jacob was killed." Beth said sadly.

Ariadne had hoped that Beth would accuse her of being silly.

"I know Arthur's still alive, but in trouble." Beth said. "We owe it to him to look after his baby, don't we?"

Ariadne nodded.  
"I can't stay here." She said as she and Beth walked back to the house. "Your mother hates me and wants Arthur to come back and marry Linda."

"I know." Beth said.

"I'm going to move out." Ariadne announced suddenly. "I have enough money. Four years at the Red Cross and I've barely spent a dime. I can afford a place."

"Then, well go together." Beth told her brightly as the two women went inside to have something to eat and get warm.

~ Arthur _was_ cold and hungry. His men were all crowded into the barrack together. Their bodies were the only heat source.

It dawned on him slowly. That he was going to die here. He would die in this horrible place and never see Ariadne again.

Cobb was in terrible pain. He was sweating heavily and would talk in a confused and altered state.

"Mal, please." He cried in the night. Arthur hushing him so the other men wouldn't hear and become frightened. They had been two days with no food and Arthur's head hurt.

_'Eames, please be alive and getting help. Save our lives, Eames_.' He thought as another snow storm fell outside.

He pulled out his cigarette case and looked at his pretty nurse. He wished more then anything to be back at that moment in time. That day in Paris where he had her at his side. Kissing her to make her smile. Her small hand in his. Her big eyes looking at him so trusting.

"Ariadne." He whispered before trying to sleep.

~ Eames reached another unit a day later. He was so tired and crazed to find help that he was almost shot as he rushed into the Allied camp.

"Lieutenant!" Colonel Burch barked as Eames fought one of the sentries on duty. Screaming at them for help.

"They were captured! Colonel Cobb! The Major!" Eames shouted. He felt like he was losing his mind. He tried to explain about the crow, the ambush, the blood, the camp. Then he was talking about a girl who's feet were bitten by snakes.

"See to it he gets a hot meal and whiskey if you have it." Colonel Burch told one of his men as the guards were holding the half starved, half frozen Lieutenant up.

~ Eames was much calmer after having something to eat. After sitting by a fire with Colonel Burch scowling at him.

"It was an ambush, Sir." The Lieutenant said. His fingers stinging him as the blood returned to them. So many hours out in the cold he knew he could have slight frost bite.

"I came back into the clearing, and they were shot up. About thirty were marched to this camp." Eames explained.

"And you know where this camp is?" The gruff colonel asked. His face hard and unflinching.

"Yes, sir." Eames said. "I marked the trees. I can find it."

~ Ariadne couldn't stand this place anymore. It was too much like her aunt's home. Only her aunt never made her feel like she was on borrowed time there. Lydia and Arthur's ex were always dropping little comments of how when he came home, things would be '_settled_' as they called it. Making sure she knew that she would be sent back to where she came from as soon as Arthur came to his senses.

There was only one thing for it. She would have to find a job, and move out. Beth was eager to leave as well but she told Ariadne that she would be cut off if she left home.

"You can find work." Ariadne offered as she looked through the papers.

Beth looked taken aback. Ariadne sensed the Beth had never had a job.

"Your the one who's always saying women can do everything men can do." Ariadne offered.

"Well yes." Beth said nervously.

"You have a college degree." Ariadne offered.

"Yes, and I learned about was art history, napkin folding and flower arrangements." Beth told her.

Ariadne laughed. Beth reminded her of the girls who joined to be nurses and folded under the work.

~ The hospitals were eager for nurses. Most of them offering a good pay, but, with her leg, she knew she might not be able to keep up. An ad for an at home nurse caught her eye and when she wrote the letter of interest, along with her letters of recommendation, she received a phone call and request for an interview.

~ "It's taking care of my father. He has been ill for some time now and I can't leave him to his own devices anymore." The well groomed young man said. "We've had several nurses in to take care of him, but the war keeps calling them away." The young man added sadly.

"I see." Ariadne said from her seat on the office chair.

She was expecting an older lady who needed help with her aged husband or something like that. This well groomed young man, Robert Fisher, should have been in uniform with the other men. He was young and healthy, why wasn't he in the war?

"I'm at my office five days a week and with my father's illness, I just need someone to watch him. He has a temper, I won't lie to you about that. He was a business man and used to getting his way. It's how he survived the Depression." Robert explained.

The well groomed man looked at Ariadne. His blue eyes were shocking and clear. A strange contrast to his dark hair.

"Will you be alright doing this kind of work? With that leg?" He asked worriedly.

"Sir, I took care of the wounded in London for years. I took care of them again right after I broke it. The cast is due to come off in a few weeks anyway." She said. "I'm sure I can handle your father."

Robert looked doubtful.

"What is it you do?" She asked him. The curiosity was eating her alive. The young man lived in the nicest apartment she had ever seen. It even rivaled Arthur's parents home in beauty. He seemed too young to be so well off.

"I'm a therapist." Mr. Fisher told her.

"Like Dr. Freud?" She asked. She had read all about the strange little doctor with his odd ideas about men and women.

Robert laughed.

"No, nothing like that. I specialize in traumatic stress problems. What they used to call shell shock. We have a lot of that right now with our boys coming home. It's how I contribute to the war effort." He explained.

His manners were so easy and graceful, Ariadne found himself more relaxed.

"You were never in the army?" She asked.

"No. Asthma kept me out." Robert said sadly. Patting his chest. His suit was well made and looked expensive. Not even her uncle would have owned such a suit.

"Why aren't you in London now?" Robert asked gently. His light, blue eyes kind and innocent. His voice soothing and his face showed he was interested in whatever she had to tell him.

"I broke my leg." She said with a shrug. "Also, my husband wants me in New York till he get's home."

"Must have been hard, the injury." Robert said. "Are you with your family now?"

"No, his mother and sister." Ariadne told him. She wasn't able to hide the sadness in her voice.

"That must be difficult." He said. His tone understanding and kind.

She felt the sudden urge to unload all her fears and worries to this man. His face was open and waiting for her to talk. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from telling him about Arthur, her new mother in law, the baby, the dreams about crows and blood in snow. Her long hours outside in the cold. How she would sit in the freezing weather without having eaten until worry for her baby drove her back inside.

She had a feeling Robert would listen to everything and not judge.

"Perhaps I should meet your father. See how he responds to me." She said instead. She managed to stand easily with her cane and followed Robert into a library that had been converted into a hospital room.

"Dad?" Robert said leaning over a very ill looking older man.

"Get out! Damn you! Dirty bastard!" The older man shouted to his soft spoken, well groomed young son.

Ariadne had seen worse. But not much worse.

"Has he a history of senility?" She asked.

"No. This just started a month ago." Robert said worriedly.

"I've seen this before in older people. In London, clean water was scarce because of the bombings. Older people were not drinking enough. They would get dehydrated and they would act just like this." She said taking the older man's hand in hers.

Maurice seemed taken aback by the pretty nurse. He looked at her, his eyes confused. Surprised by the contact of her hand in his.

"I'd like to start him on sulfa pills. Clear out any infection he might have. And start pushing fluids. I think it will help." She told Robert as the well groomed young man was amazed the pretty nurse could calm his father down with just a touch.

"It's alright. No one's mad." She told the older man as she made him drink more water.

"Whatever you need." Robert said softly.


	42. Chapter 42

42.

~ "Arthur." Cobb whispered. "You know they plan to kill us."

"We don't know that." Arthur said. It was night and most of the men were sleeping. Only Arthur and Cobb were awake. Watching the snow fall. Cobb had developed a fever. He was sweating out the infection that was now ravishing his leg.  
"Yes we do. We've seen evidence of what they plan to do all over Europe." Cobb whispered so the men wouldn't hear. "We have to get out."  
"We are an immobile unit right now." Arthur said logically. "We have too many wounded to move and no transport and no idea where we are."

"Arthur." Cobb said sternly as the Major looked grimly at the guards. "We know what they will do. You remember what the POWs in Paris told us. If they find out your Jewish..."

Cobb didn't have to finish. Didn't have to say it. Arthur's blood had turned cold at the memory. The rescued American POWs in Paris had told them they were striped naked by the Nazis so they could see which of them was circumcised. Those who were, were immediately executed.

"What do you think they want with us?" Cobb asked.

"Prisoner exchange." Arthur said. "They think if they give us back, they'll be granted immunity."

"Won't work if we die here." Cobb laughed.

Arthur had to agree. It was the third day with no food and in the horrible cold that went to his bones.

~ "This is where it happened." Eames said pointing to the downed tank and the bodies left frozen in the snow.  
"Were missing about a couple of dozen, sir." A Sargent told them taking a head count of the dead.

"Must have been taken prisoner." The colonel said. "They dug a trap and opened fire on them."

"The Lt. Colonel was wounded and the Major ordered a surrender." Eames said.  
"Trying to save the rest of the men." Colonel Burch said with a nod. "The Nazis are cornered animals right now. They will do anything now to survive."

"Do you think their still alive?" Eames asked hopefully.

"Yes, I do. The Major is smart. He will look after the men." The gruff officer said honestly. "They just have to _stay_ alive."

~ Ariadne received a letter from Arthur more than a week after her nightmare. She smiled at the idea of him holding her while she slept. She had written him that she was moving out. Not blaming his mother or Linda, but saying she wanted to be closer to the city.

She received the telegram from the war office an hour later.

~ Lydia had come home from her woman's group that evening to see her daughter-in-law sitting in the parlor. The neatly framed photo of Arthur, resplendent in his uniform, in her hands.

"Arthur's missing in action." She said coldly. "And I'm pregnant."

"_I knew it!_" Lydia was nearly hysterics.

Beth was calm and collected in the front parlor as her mother raged. Ariadne sat Arthur's picture back on the fire place. She wished she had known him back then. When she was walking out of France, he was still so innocent to war. They both were.

"I _knew_ he had gotten you in trouble and that was why he married you! I'm willing to bet that's not even his child." Lydia fumed.  
"It's his baby, Mother." Beth said calmly. "My brother, _your son_, asked us to take care of his wife and his unborn child until he is home. Doesn't matter how long they knew each other or if the baby was conceived out of wedlock or not."

"It most certainly _does_ matter. Think of the scandal!" Lydia almost shouted.  
"Mother. Arthur is missing in action. Don't you want to worry about that right now?" Beth said trying to appeal to her mother's softer side.  
"I can't worry about that because I've got to deal with this horrific indiscretion living in my home." Lydia shouted. Waving a hand at Ariadne.

"I won't be living in your home anymore." Ariadne said softly. "I've gotten an apartment and a job. I can look after myself. I've done it before."

"Arthur will be furious when he finds out his wife had to leave this house." Beth said in a cold voice to her mother.

"If the child his his, and Arthur doesn't make it home, I will have to take custody." Lydia said finally.

"What?" Beth said wrinkling her nose.  
"This girl is obviously not our sort. She trapped my son into marrying her. If Arthur doesn't make it home, I need to take care of his child. I can provide a better life for the baby then her." Lydia said rationally to Beth said if Ariadne wasn't even in the room.

"Mother, stop acting crazy. You can't take a baby away from his mother." Beth said rationally.  
"She will be free to go on her way in life. Free to re-marry and not have to worry about any... obligation." Lydia said.  
"Mother!" Beth almost shouted. "I hope my brother comes home safe and sound. So he can know exactly how you have regarded his wife and_ ignored_ his wishes. This talk of stealing Ariadne's baby. You should be ashamed."

Both women seemed to forget the pretty nurse as she went upstairs to pack. Their shouting reaching her through out the house.

Down a secluded hall, were the boyhood bedrooms of Arthur and his dead brothers. Beth had made a point of say they were off limits to everyone. The lady of the house keeping them as a shrine to her sons.

She found Arthur's room by the baseball name plate on the door and silently stole inside.

Arthur's old bedroom was clean and well organized. She looked over his clothes and even the toys he had played with. Her future husband liking metal army men and toy tanks. A solider even before there was a war. She stole the warm looking blanket off his bed and returned to her appointed guest room.

It was cold outside and the blanket felt good and comforting. She wrapped herself tightly under the blanket from Arthur's room.

"See, little one?" She whispered to the small life growing inside her. "Your father is keeping us warm."

~ The conditions in the barracks were unbearable. The cold and starvation had crippled them so quickly. Arthur had at least twenty sick men he had to look after and no medic. Only Cobb's injury was serious, but they all needed medical help. From what he recalled of the POW camps he helped to liberate, medical attention was not high on the list of priorities.

There were no place for the men use the bathroom. Only a trench their captures made them dig. Arthur was glad it was so cold outside. Hopefully the freezing temperatures would halt any kind of outbreak from poor sanitation.

The men were huddled together in one small barrack for warmth as the major counted their guards at less then a dozen. He let the guards think he didn't understand them when they talked about finding American officers to exchange the prisoners for immunity and safe passage out of Germany.

The major strained to listen as their captures talked about some Army Colonel finding them.

"Arthur?" Cobb said looking pale and very sick.

"What is it?" Arthur huffed keeping an eye on their guards.

"Do you ever think about Ariadne? About your baby?" Cobb asked with a sickly cough.

"What do you think?" Arthur said bitterly.

His thoughts were plagued with images of him being killed in this snow covered limbo. Of his child being born with no father. Of his precious bride, a young widow. He was glad she was at home with his mother and Beth. They would take care of her.

"I think about Mal all the time." Cobb said. His fever loosening his composure. "She haunts me. I see her like she is some kind of evil ghost. She talks to me. I see her... and I can't remember my children's faces."

Cobb had to get out of this place. He would die soon if they were not released. His gun shot wound was infected and he was delirious from the fever and lack of food.

Arthur turned away from the sickly looking Colonel. He watched the guards until night fell. His wounded were still not able to brave an unknown forest even if they could break out. They were all weak from hunger and would not be able to survive the cold unprotected.

'_We have to get on the trucks._' Arthur thought. But he never saw any trucks. They had to be there. No way did their captures not have quick transport out.

Arthur looked enviously at the snug warm guard house where there was surely food and warmth.

As night fell on the fourth day with no food, Arthur tried not to think about how hungry he was.


	43. Chapter 43

43.

~ "Sir?" The skinny corporal said to Arthur on the morning of the fifth day. The major stood and looked out at the snow covered camp. A large red cross truck was parked at the barbed wire gates.  
"Think were getting out, Sir?" The corporal asked.

Arthur swallowed hard and rubbed the facial hair that had grown wildly in the days since it had seen a razor.  
"I don't know." He whispered. He hoped that the truck wasn't stolen and help was truly here for them. Cobb's fever was worse. The colonel was pale and his skin was clammy as he fought for each breath.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief as Colonel Nathaniel Burch, dressed in brown army fatigues, emerged from the truck along with Eames.

'_Eames, made it out and brought help._' He thought as he was never so happy to see the Lieutenant.

Arthur watched as the colonel talked with the guards. A tense conversations and finally, the two soldiers were allowed in.

"Sir." Arthur said as the major and his few healthy men walked slowly to the colonel. The stride of the man showed that he was an officer of consequence despite being dressed in shabby fatigues with no rank.

"How are you, son?" The older man asked.

"Not well, sir." Arthur said. "Forgive me not saluting. It would be best if they didn't know your an officer."

The colonel nodded as Eames walked around the camp. Taking a head count and looking at the wounded.

"We were captured five days ago. I have several men who need medical attention right away, and a good meal wouldn't hurt them either."  
"I understand, son." The gruff officer said.  
"Do any of these little pricks understand English?" He asked looking at the guards.  
"I wouldn't speak freely, sir. Just in case." Arthur told him.

"Your friend here finally found us. Helped to track you here." The gruff officer said. "Never would have found all of you with out him."

"We were hoping he made it out." Arthur said formally. Not willing to show their captures any emotion to being rescued.

"Where's Cobb?" Eames whispered as the three of them turned and walked to the guards. "Was he killed?"

"No, but he was wounded. He's sick. Infection." Arthur said keeping his eyes on the guards.

~ The negotiations did not go well. The gruff officer promising their captures leniency but no immunity for any war crimes.

"Tell them killing our men didn't win any points with Uncle Sam!" The gruff colonel said lighting a cigar. "Tell them to release all of our men and the Brits, and then we can talk about helping them.

Arthur dutifully translated and the guards became angry. Barking at Arthur to tell Colonel Burch that no one would be let go until all of them were granted immunity.

"Sir, I have wounded that will not make it another day here." Arthur whispered thinking of Cobb. "Maybe if we can get them to let the wounded go."

"Alright, tell them we will escort their people out of the battle zone if they let you go. Best I can do." The gruff officer said.

It wasn't good enough. The Nazis were shouting at the major as they waved their riffles at them.

"Sir, they want immunity or nothing." Arthur said. The gruff colonel scowled at the angry looking guard.

Arthur took action. In steady German, he told the guards that he had many sick and injured. That if they let those men go, and kept the rest, the Army might be willing to work with them.

"What did you say to the little pricks?" Colonel Burch said while the guards conferred.

Arthur didn't answer as he worried the guards might turn the deal down.

In German he said boldly.

"I am a decorated major in the US Army. I am valuable to them. You can keep me here, let the wounded go with these men."

The guards took the deal.

~ "Son, I came _specifically_ to get yourself and one Lt. Colonel Dominic Cobb out of here." Burch said. "I don't like failing at missions."

"Colonel Cobb is one of the wounded." Arthur said telling his men that the wounded were being evacuated.

Arthur and Eames found Cobb sweating and moaning on the floor of the barrack.

"Cobb?" Eames said touching his pale, pasty skin.

"Watch the leg." Arthur said as they helped their friend to stand.  
"What's happening?" Cobb asked.  
"Your going home." Arthur said casually. "Getting sick of looking at you."

"What about you?" Cobb asked.

"I'll be right behind you." Arthur said confidently as he and Eames loaded the sick and wounded men into the Red Cross van. The rest of his men, including the skinny Corporal looking longingly at the truck. Wishing they were leaving to.

"Son, I can't promise I will be allowed to come back for you and the others." The colonel said.

"I know, Sir." Arthur said feeling shaky. His hands had been shaking the past few days with no food. "Sir?"

Colonel Burch turned to the Major before climbing back into the truck with Eames.

"My wife. She... she has a baby on the way." Arthur said. Half afraid to say the words.  
The older man looked angry.  
"Fuck orders, I'll be back to get you." He said before putting the truck into drive and speeding off.

Arthur watched the truck drive away and never saw one of the guards come up behind him and strike in in the back of the head. His world went black as he fell face first in the snow.

~ Arthur woke up in bed with his wife.

"Arthur?" She whispered. Her hands running over his cleanly shaven jaw. Arthur stared for a long time at her lovely face. Her skin, pale and beautiful in the moonlight. Her dark locks falling in nice waves to he shoulders.

"Arthur, are you alright? I was so worried." She said in a soothing voice.

"I'm fine." He said. "I was... I was just cold and hungry for a little while. But I'm better now."

"Are you going to leave me?" She asked. Her face serene and angelic like.

"No." He said his mind feeling fuzzy. "No, I would never leave you."

"You feel like your leaving me." She said sadly.

"No. I have to get back to you. Get back to you and the baby." He whispered.

Her face was darker then normal. A ghostly gray that made her look almost frightening.

"Your going to _die_ here, sweetheart." She whispered in his ear. "Your going to die like all the others and you'll never see me or your child again."

~ Arthur was pulled violently awake from the cold water being dumped on him. He sat up sharply, sputtering and thought he was drowning at first.

"Well, so our Major is alive, no?" Came a voice. He was speaking in German and Arthur had to think a moment to understand him.  
"I know you can hear me. I know, that you know what we are saying." The voice said slowly.

Arthur looked around him. He was in a warm sitting room. All it's furniture was removed except a table and a chair which a Nazi officer was sitting in. Arthur knew he was important not by his clothing, but by his demeanor. He sat too strait. Was too cocky and arrogant.

"I understand you." Arthur said in German pushing back his hair. Grateful the cold water at least cleaned him a little. He crawled closer to a roaring fire and felt how good it was to be warm after so many days in the snow.

"We have prepared you something to eat. We have bread. We have cheese. Some caned fruit even. A good meal." The Nazi said.

"My men are hungrier then I am." Arthur said ignoring the pain of long denied hunger.  
"It is impolite to refuse hospitality. We are here to help you. We help you now, you will help us later, yes?" The Nazi told him.

"You can help me by feeding the men you have been starving." Arthur said stubbornly.

The Nazi chuckled.

"We have been talking to your men. Many of them were angry you surrendered. Also, that they did not get to leave with the wounded. They blame you, Major. They told us many things about you." He said

"Oh yeah?" Arthur said not interested. His stomach growling for the cheese and bread on the table.

"Oh, yes." The Nazi said lighting a cigarette. "Said you are a war hero. But then, the heroes are only decided by the winners of the war. I studied history at University. This, is true of all wars."

Arthur recognized the smell of the cigarette smoke. He patted his front shirt and didn't feel his father's silver cigarette case.  
"Pretty lady you keep hidden in here." The Nazi said looking inside the silver case, now carelessly held in his gloved hand. "I assume she is your wife, sir?"

Arthur was incensed. He wanted to rush the man and rip his head off. Not for stealing his father's case, or smoking his rationed cigarettes, but for daring to look with lustful eyes at his wife.  
"She is my wife." he calmly said instead.

"I know _I_ would want nothing more then to return to her... a whole man." The Nazi said in a lazy drawl. "You have the power to go back to her with your manhood intact. I suggest you think about this. If not, then such a lovely creature will not want what is returned to her."


	44. Chapter 44

44.

~ Maurice Fisher responded well to the sulfa treatments. His bladder infection cleared up and he was soon much more articulate when he spoke.

"My son became a head shrink." The older man grumbled as Ariadne helped him out of his bath. "What kind of profession is that? Bunch of cry babies talking about their feelings."

Even after his illness had passed, what Robert had told her was true, Maurice wasn't a pleasant man.

"I think he helps a lot of people." Ariadne told the older man as she helped him dress.

Maurice was winded after the work of bathing and dressing he wanted to rest.

"You're a nice girl." He said patting her hand as she helped to lay him in the bed. "I'm glad Robert found you."

~ "So, you moved out of your mother in law's house?" Robert asked as she prepared to leave. The well groomed young man liked to talk to her when he first came home. She was cooking dinner for him and Maurice when he decided to wake up.

"Yes, Beth and I found a nice little apartment here in the city. I can walk here very easily." She told him.

"You just go the cast off. I can pick you up. Save you all that walking." Robert offered.

"I need the exercise." Ariadne said.

Robert looked at his plate. Those clear blue eyes of his doing nothing to hide his feelings.

"Have you heard anything from your husband?" He asked.

Ariadne wanted to tell Robert what happened.

"I got a letter from him. Then a telegram saying he was missing in action. I've been to the war office a few times, they can't tell me anything." She said not looking at Robert.

"I'm so sorry." He said.

"I hope he's alright, that's all I can do." She said trying not to cry. She had cried enough already.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked kindly.

She shook her head.

"I telegraphed the Matron at my old hospital in London. I told her Arthur was missing. That he might come into London wounded and to contact me if she finds him." Ariadne told him.

"That's good. Do you think she will?" Robert said. "A lot of wounded go through London."

"You don't know the Matron." Ariadne laughed.

Robert was quite for a long time. Waiting for her to speak.

"I know he's someplace cold. I know he's hungry and scared." She said in a soft voice.

Robert sat listening to her in that kind, non judgmental way of his.

"Sometimes, I stay out in the snow for a long time. Sometimes I don't eat for a long time because I want to feel hungry. Like I know he is."

Robert said nothing for a long time.

"Ariadne, I want you to promise me you won't do that anymore." He said at last. "Promise me, you won't do anything to hurt yourself. Even if you think it's not that bad."

She bit her bottom lip. She could make this promise. Robert had been a good friend and a better employer then she could have ever hoped for.

"I promise." She said a tears fell out.

She felt Robert take her hand in his. His hands were soft and without calluses.

"You don't want to hurt your baby do you?" He asked looking up at her with those clear blue eyes.

She jumped away from him then. Her condition wasn't noticeable yet. She wasn't showing at all.  
"How? How did you know?" She breathed.

Robert shrugged.

"Every time Dad yells at you, you put your hands over your belly. A reflex action. You wouldn't do it unless you had something to protect." He added knowingly.

"Mr. Fischer-"

"Robert, please." He interjected.

"_Robert_." She said slowly. "I promise this won't be a problem. My sister-in-law can look after the baby when the time comes and it will not interfere with my taking care of your father."

"When the time comes, I would hope you would bring the little one here. I love children." Robert said.

She looked at him in surprise.

"I think it would be good for Dad to have a baby around." The well groomed young man added.

~ Beth had started work at a newspaper. Her job was simple copy editor and it was mindless work. But she loved having her own money. She found it liberating and empowering to have her own checking account. The girls moved into the city. Beth proclaiming she had always wanted to live in the Village.

Their apartment was small, but cozy. Beth tried to learn to cook and finally gave up and was thankful they were so close to restaurants.

They were surrounded by artists and faint music would drift though their open windows as the snow melted and the smells of spring were not far away. Ariadne felt guilty for being happy sometimes.

~ "At the paper, they talk a lot about wanting first hand accounts of the war. I was thinking I could write your story. Might get me a position as a reporter." Beth said one evening after they had gotten off work. Robert insisted on driving Ariadne home in his car the past few days.

The pretty nurse looked up from her sewing. She was making a jumper for the baby.

"My story?" Ariadne repeated. "It's not very exciting."

"I disagree. You fled the invasion. Escaped through Dunkirk, worked as a nurse in London under the air raids, marched back into France with the Allies. Met and married a handsome GI. It's _very_ interesting." Beth said. "It's a love story and those things sell. We could even make this a novel."

Ariadne laughed.

"We don't have an ending." She sighed. "If Arthur dies over there, it will be a sad ending. No one wants a sad ending."

"I don't believe your story will have a sad ending." Beth said.

Ariadne looked at Beth.

"Well, the war for us started with radio reports. Nothing happened for ages. Then, the bombings started." Ariadne started.

~ Arthur had decided the Nazi didn't scare him. Once he was properly warm and dry by the fire, he stood up and casually started eating the bread and cheese. The Nazi officer had even had one of his

lackeys bring in hot coffee.

"Sit. Sit down, please." The officer said with a repugnant smile.

"No, thank you." Arthur said casually. "I only sit at a table with friends."

Arthur, though weakened from hunger and a prisoner, seemed to an outsider to be the one in charge. He stood tall over the sitting Nazi and stretched his legs as he ate.

'_Slowly, eat it slowly_.' He told himself '_No use throwing it back up again._'

"Yes, very good. I want us to be friends." The Nazi said with his smile that showed a healthy set of teeth. "Tell me. Tell me everything about America. I think it's a very interesting country. Even with all our faults. Your wife, she is in America, yes?"

Arthur said nothing. His stomach clenching at the contact of food and the mention of his sweet wife on this man's lips.

'_Little Prick_.' The Major thought remembering Colonel Burch. He suddenly decided that was what he would call the Nazi in his mind. A mental shield that would keep the enemy in his place.

He didn't respond to '_Little Prick'_ as he slowly sipped his hot coffee. The Nazi officer only laughed.

"Of course she is in America. Telegraphed you from New York. Expecting a baby I see." He said pulling out the yellow telegraph from behind her picture. Arthur felt his blood run cold. He never hid his emotions well, but this time he had to.

"Haven't seen her in a while. Kids not even mine." Arthur said carelessly. His heart paining him as he tried to steel himself from the longing he felt.

"Oh dear." The Little Prick said. His voice dripping with sympathy. "Unfaithful to her husband in war time. Such a shame, but it happens."

"You know that from your history classes?" Arthur asked finishing his bread and picking up the tin of fruit.

"Yes. Only Odysseus, with his precious Penelope can expect a _loyal_ wife." He said. "Then, it is not easy to be a soldiers wife. All the loneliness. The worry."

"Are my men being fed?" Arthur asked sipping the coffee. It was snowing heavily outside as he looked out the window and couldn't see the barrack.

"Why do you care, Major?" The Nazi said standing next to him. "They no longer respect you. They feel you have betrayed them."

"Let me save you some time, Sir." Arthur said casually finishing his coffee and wiping his mouth with the a napkin.  
"I don't believe a word you are saying. I think you will tell me anything at this point to get what you want." He said.

"And I don't believe a word you have said about your wife." The Nazi said indifferently. "I think you love her. More then Odysseus loved Penelope. I think a man who keeps a lady safely hidden in a case like that... I think you love her and the child. The child is naturally yours."

Arthur said nothing.  
"Do you think, Major, that your wife worries over you now? You have been here almost a week. Surely she has been told of your disappearance." The Nazi had a pleased look on his face as two other Nazis silently came into the room. Arthur didn't look at them. Didn't acknowledge '_Little Prick_'.

He knew what was coming.

"Did you get enough to eat? More coffee perhaps? I am very sorry I can not offer you sugar." The Nazi said.

"I'm fine." Arthur said numbly. Taking a deep breath.

The guards advanced on him them. While the '_Little Prick_' was smoking his cigarettes and looking at the photo in the silver case, Arthur was beaten. He tried to protect his face and vital organs but the men held him down and kicked him till he was coughing up blood.

"I believe, I shall take your lady to bed with me tonight." The Nazi officer said with a sinister smile. "She may prove a distraction."

Arthur looked up at him and tried to see through the fast swelling of his eye. His body hurt and he was spitting out bright red blood. As he watched the him leave with the silver case, the photos and the telegram. All that was precious to him in the world.

~ In London, the Matron had just climbed out of the air raid shelter with the few patients who could walk. Air raids were once more becoming a way of life for them. Like a game children play.

'_Oh here comes the siren, everyone run and hide!_'

Run and hide was right. The halls were always eerily empty during a bombing. The only ones left were the critical who could not be moved.

"We are alright!" She called out to her nurses as they helped the wounded back to their wards. "We still have dinner to serve and work to do. War or no war, we must carry on."

It was the Matron's weapon against those who bombed her. To be strong for the nurses and wounded. To have a spine of steel that the Germans could not break.

'_Never show anyone you are tired or afraid. Be a pillar of English strength and courage for everyone around you._' She told herself as she stood a little straighter and walked swiftly to the ward for the critical.

She had gotten a telegram from the Red Cross nurse, Ariadne, yesterday. She had told her she would look, but she had no confidence her husband would be found alive. This war had taken so many.

The Matron looked over the critical men, fresh from the front lines. Their charts saying nothing more then their names. No information about where they were or their unit. Several were British who were deep in the throws of fever.

"Mal." Came a weary voice. "Mal." It said again.

The Matron went over to the wounded man. His chart showing he was an American. A Colonel.

"Mal? _Bad_ is it?" She asked remembering her Latin. "Your safe now. Your in London."

"Arthur? Where is Arthur?" The Colonel asked. The Matron froze.

'_Arthur. That's Ariadne's husband's name_.' She turned and looked at the man. He was sweating. Succumbing to blood poisoning from his leg wound.

"Did you say _Arthur_?" She asked.

"Arthur." The blond man repeated dumbly. "He was right behind us. In the camp. Where is he?"

The Matron gave Colonel Cobb some water and went to search each bed. She carefully looked over charts and names. No Arthur, and Cobb was the only officer brought in with these men. The Matron raced to the locked medicine cabinet. The Doctor had pronounced the Colonel too far gone to spare antibiotics on. These medications were hard to get with the recent bombing and needed to be saved for those who had a chance. Cobb was given pain pills and left to die.

The Matron filled a syringe of very powerful antibiotics and refused to let him.


	45. Chapter 45

45.

~ Arthur felt hope drain out of him. He was kept separated from his men and was forced to stay in the house where he was warm and dry. He slept on the floor as the bitter wind howled against the window. By afternoon, he was brought a small ration of bread and cheese again. No coffee this time, or fruit.

'Little Prick' would talk to him for hours. Arthur, always refusing to sit with him. Choosing instead to stand. The height difference making him feel better as he towered over the man who held him.

"My men?" Arthur asked. Little Prick sighed.

"Just like you Major, I care about my own men. I want them out of this dieing world and safely in a warm, dry place. Australia perhaps or South America. This, your people can arrange for us." He said. "For this, we give you and your men back."

"That's not what I asked you." Arthur said with a growl. "I asked if my men were alright. You can't get anything if my men are hurt in any way. Are they being fed?"

"Alas, winter is never kind." Was all Little Prick said as the two thugs marched into the room after Arthur had finished eating.

He was beaten again. His barely healed cuts re-opening. Little Prick standing over him as finally, the guards left him bleeding on the floor and gasping for air.

"I enjoyed my time with your wife's photo last night." The Nazi said in a slanderous tone. "Ariadne is it? Beautiful name. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl, yes?"

Arthur said nothing. He was fairly sure his rib was broken and he clutched it in pain.

"Tell me, when you come limping home, will she still want you? Your child, a boy lets say, what will he think of you? Will he be proud of the man he sees? A broken man? A hobbled man? A man, who's wife can barely stand the sight of?"

Arthur spat out more blood and tried to ignore Little Prick.

"Oh, I have no doubt your wife will remarry. Even with a child in tow. She is lovely. She will find some nice man. A _whole _man. One who will keep her bed warm. I imagined her last night. Doing all kinds of wicked things to me. She may look sweet and innocent in pictures, but I can tell she loves to do dirty things with men." He said lighting a cigarette. "I kept myself very pleased thinking of all she would do to me."

Arthur ignored the sharp, protesting pain in his rib and found the strength to attack the Nazi officer. What he had said hurt him. Wounded him worse then any blow.

The Major was quick and nimble and easily took down the clumsy Nazi. He was on him then, hitting him repeatedly while the officer tried to shout for help.

Blood was flowing from the Nazi's face when a riffle butt hit Arthur in the head. His world going black again.

~ He was in the woods again. The falling ash looked like snow, only it fell in gray flakes. Coating everything around him in a dark evil.

"Arthur?" Came a voice. His bride was sitting next to him as he opened his eyes.

"Ariadne." He groaned. "What happened?"

"We are lost." She whispered. Her voice odd.

"Ariadne?" He asked as he looked at her. She was in the blue dress. The one he saw her in that summer day in London. The one he married her in.

"You lost us." She whispered as falling ash collected on her hair and face. "We are all lost now." She said standing up and walking away from him.

"Please. Ariadne." He said trying to stand up.

"I'm dead Arthur. I died before I even reached Dunkirk. You only dreamed of me." She taunted him from the trees.

"Ariadne. You're my wife, the mother of my _only_ child. Please don't go!" He shouted as he tried to stand again.

The girl he dreamed into life, who danced on his feet, vanishing into ash.

~ Arthur paid dearly for his revenge. He was locked in a room with no windows and barely enough space to lay down in. He was given no mattress and had to sleep on the ice cold floor. The only other object in the room was a bucket for when nature called.

"Major, I believe you have broken my nose." The Little Prick said holding a white handkerchief to his bleeding face.

"I think it suits you." Arthur said callously. His face hurt and was bleeding. His eyes swollen almost shut.

The Nazi glared back at the major through blacked eyes and a red, swollen, disfigured nose.

"Your men, will pay the price for your savagery, Major." Little Prick said. "And I will make certain they know who is responsible."

The heavy door slammed shut and Arthur was alone in the dark.

~ "I have never met so many fucking little _pricks_, as I have in this war!" The colonel fumed. He was chewing on a cigar again. Command had refused his request to go back for the remaining men that were being held. Burch had just seen the wounded off on a plane to London. Colonel Cobb was not looking well. He was sweating and coughing and the medic had said something about blood poisoning. Eames had begged the medic not to amputate the leg that had turned black around the wound. Instead giving him a shot of antibiotics. Burch doubted he would make it.

Eames was standing close by and waiting to find out what would happen next.

"What do we do now, Sir?" Eames asked.

"Your not in this man's Army, Son." The gruff officer said. "You go back to your own people."

"Sir, these _are_ my people. These my friends." Eames said. "You promised Arthur you would come back for him and I want to help. I ran away and left them. I have to help." Eames said. His face almost manic.  
"You did the right thing." Burch said looking at Eames. "If you hadn't have found help, we never would have been able to find them. Still, it won't do any good because I can't get orders for a rescue." The gruff officer said.

"I say 'fuck that'." Eames said liking the casual swearing of the American.

Burch looked at Eames in surprise.

"That's the attitude I need." He said. "You talked me into it. But if we get caught, I'm going to say it was all your idea."

"Fair enough." Eames said.

~ Arthur had no idea how much time had passed while in his windowless cell. He had not been fed and the sharp insistent pain of hunger made it hard to sleep. Whatever fat he had on his lean body was slowly melting away and making him feel the cold so much more sharply.

The Little Prick had stopped coming to see him and Arthur wondered if he had been in this dark place for days or years. His face and body hurt from the cold and the beating as he passed his time sleeping and dreaming.

When he slept, he slept deeply.

~ Dreamed of cities turned to dust. Of children's shoes. Of a girl in a blue dress turning to ash before he could reach her. And then, far in the distance, a baby was crying. Instinctively, he knew it was his child. Destined to be born to a father that would be dead before it breathed it's first breath. He would never see his child. Never see his wife again.

Deep in his mind, was a nagging pain of doubt. Was Ariadne even real? Did he just imagine her? He no longer had proof she existed. What if he had only dreamed her?

Days had blended together and he was no longer sure what was real and what was not.

~ In a frozen wasteland. Eames had climbed a high tree. He was watching the camp from this height and doing recon. The prisoners was still huddled in the solitary barrack. It looked like they were being fed at least once a day, but the unforgiving cold would mean they would not be able to survive much longer.

The colonel was camped out a few miles away with a dozen volunteers. Some of whom Arthur had saved from the front. They had all defied orders and made an illegal trek into the snow to rescue the men.

~ "Sir." Eames said after watching the camp for a few hours. "Men are still in the barrack."

"The major?" The gruff officer asked chewing his unlit cigar.

"Didn't see him." Eames sighed. They had no fire burning and instead built igloo type shelter in the snow. There presence in these woods was completely hidden.

"Little pricks most likely have him in another place." Colonel Burch said.

"How do you know that?" Eames asked.

"It's what I would do. Separate your officer from the men. Tell him you men have betrayed you or their dead. He's somewhere else."

"So what do we do?" Eames asked.  
"Were running out of time. The cold is hurting those men and if the major is still alive, he is on borrowed time." Burch said. The other men looked at their leader excitedly. "We roll in tonight." He said finally.

~ Arthur was half asleep when the sound of grenades shook him awake. He would know the sound they made anywhere. They were American built weapons and had a very distinct noise when they went off. He could hear shouting through the walls on the house and gun fire. A distant _tat tat tat_ from outside. More shouting and he could hear footsteps running to his cell.

His door flew open and Arthur was blinded by the light that flooded his dark room.

"I can at least make sure you never see home again, Major." The Nazi officer said pointing a Luger at Arthur as he tried to get his broken, beaten and starved body to stand.

If he was fated to die here, he would die on his feet.

Then, there was a loud bang and the Nazi's face melted. Eames appeared in the lighted hallway.

"Hello, Major." The Lieutenant said with a cocky smile. "You ready to leave yet?" He asked helping the wounded man to his feet.

Arthur couldn't take his eyes off the dead Nazi that had tormented him. His face blow away by the Lieutenant.

"Stop, stop just a second." Arthur said collapsing on the Nazi who's face looked like raw hamburger meat.

"We don't have a lot of time, Mate." Eames said said worriedly as Arthur looked through the Nazi officer's pockets. His hands found the familiar silver cigarette case and he quickly pocketed it along with the Luger.

Outside was a dark world of smoke and confusion.

"Major!" Colonel Burch said as Eames helped Arthur hobble out of the guard house. "Are you injured?" He asked.

"No, Sir." Trying to stand straighter and walk on his own power.

"Good man." The gruff colonel said. "Ask these little dick suckers where the trucks are." He said.

Arthur saw the Nazis were all kneeling in the snow. Looking worried as several of their American and British prisoners stood over them with their own rifles. The former prisoners had overtaken them when the attack happened.

Arthur slowly asked them where the trucks were and the Nazis pointed to a garage across the camp. Camouflaged to blend in with the trees.

"You men, go!" Burch said nodding to the other prisoners. "You men, put them down. We don't have room for prisoners, and I'm not feeding them." He said to the men holding weapons over the guards.

They didn't have to be told twice. Arthur watched in cold comfort as his men shot their captures in the head. Blood spotting the snow as Eames helped him walk to the garage.

"Glad to see your alright, Sir." The skinny corporal said.

"Glad to see you are." Arthur said patting the young man on the back. "Is everyone else alright?"

"Were all still alive and ready to leave, sir." The Skinny Corporal said as the trucks roared into life. Eames put Arthur in the passenger seat and drove them out behind the gruff officer's truck. The men crowded in the back.

The trucks vanished in the snow. The campy was empty, with only the dead left behind.


	46. Chapter 46

46.

~ Arthur kept waiting for something bad to happen. To wake up, and still be back in that dark room. For those dead Nazis to rise from their snowy graves and pull him back.

"How... how long were we there?" Arthur stammered.  
"We got the wounded out about fourteen days ago, Major." Eames said as the Lieutenant drove slowly over the snowy road.

"_Fourteen days?_" Arthur whispered. He couldn't believe it had been that long. Sometimes it felt like years, but he had been asleep for so long, he hadn't felt time pass. The room he was being held in had no windows and they never fed him after he attacked Little Prick.  
"Yeah, sorry it took so long. We had to go against orders to get you." Eames said as finally the trucks arrived at an Army camp.

The gruff colonel was shouting at people who thought they were Nazis in their German trucks.

"I said hold your fire, you stupid fuck." He shouted at a scared looking infantry man.

~ Arthur had to be forced to eat. The hot soup they gave him made his empty stomach clench shut. His last meal of bread and cheese had been twelve days ago and before that, five days with no food. Also in the back of his mind was the fear that he would be beaten after he ate. That was how it was when he was in the guard house.

He would eat the bread, the cheese. Then he was beaten.

"Eat it _slow_, son." The colonel said once they were alone in the officer's tent. Arthur ate two spoonfuls before he felt he might throw up.

"I can't, Sir." He said feeling himself want to lurch as he was suddenly too dizzy to sit up.

"Hey!" Burch shouted. "I didn't risk a court marshal so you could eat like a bird. Trying to keep your figure for the ball, Cinderella?"

Arthur took a few more sips of soup.

"We have to make you strong again. We have to get you home to your wife, remember?" He said lighting a cigarette.

"Can I have one of those?" Arthur asked pointing to the cigarette. "That little prick who captured us, he smoked all of mine."  
"If you finish your soup." The colonel said with a smile.

~ Colonel Nathaniel Burch wasn't court marshaled. It seemed even those above him were a little afraid of him.

For a few days, Arthur was kept at the Army camp till he got his strength back. He spent his days sleeping and reading from the Colonel's small collection of books. The older man had a taste for the classics. Books Arthur had not read since he was in school. It felt like another person had read those same words. A young man with no idea what war was really about. How he longed to be that young man again.

He poured over the_ Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ as if they held all the secrets of the world within them. The Nazi officer's talk of Odysseus and Penelope seeming especially poignant right now.

He slept on an Army cot and didn't venture outside the officer's tent. Eames would bring him dinner and the two of them would smoke and talk about nothing important.

When he shaved each morning, he would stare for a long time at his reflection. He had changed somehow in the three weeks he was prisoner. It wasn't just the sudden weight loss or the days of starvation, sleeping and the cold. His face looked haunted now.

At night, before he went to bed, he propped up the silver cigarette case on an ammo box and fell asleep looking at her picture. Her delicate face that held the barest hint of a smile. Her brown dress, falling so beautifully over her figure. He wondered what her figure looked like now. He wondered if she was showing signs of their child's growth.

When he told Eames and the colonel what Little Prick had said he had done over her picture, they had laughed.

"Son, that's not true." The colonel said smoking a smelly cigar and winning all their money at poker. "Nazis can't get a hard dick. That's why they became Nazis." He told Arthur as if the major was stupid.

They had all enjoyed a good laugh and Arthur felt much better when he looked at his sweetheart, his forever, in the silver case.

~ "What do you mean I can't telegraph my wife?" Arthur almost shouted a week after his rescue.

"Son, command has to debrief you and I wouldn't plan on that happening any time soon. Things are getting pretty heated for us right now." The gruff colonel said. "You orders are to stay with us as we go into Berlin."

"My wife thinks I'm MIA. She thinks I'm dead." Arthur said beseechingly. "Just... just let me send her a letter at least. Let her know I'm alright. You can check it if you want to. I wouldn't say anything about where I am or what's happening." Arthur promised.

"I have my orders." The gruff colonel said. "Don't worry, war is almost done. You'll be home before fall."

~ Fall. His baby was due in fall.

~ "What's this?" Ariadne asked one morning after the snow had started to melt. Robert had presented her with a small package. It was the most beautifully wrapped thing she had ever seen. She had never received a present so nicely presented.

"You won't know until you open it." Robert teased.

Ariadne tried no to smile, and gently unwrapped the package. She hated to disturb the beautiful wrapping paper. The lovely professionally tied bow.

Robert was laughing.

"It's alright to rip it open." He said.

Ariadne took a sharp breath and her heart broke.

Baby shoes. Fine, little white shoes that were just as well made as adult shoes.

"I saw them and I couldn't resist." Robert explained. "It's the new trend. Buying cute shoes a baby can't possible use, and will grow out of in two seconds."

"Robert... I..." She tried to collect her thoughts. "I can't accept these."

"Their not for you. Their for the baby." He told her.

"I know, but it's too expensive." She said gripping tightly to the precious, little shoes. She didn't want to let go of them. They were too cute. Too perfect.

"Please take them." Robert said gently. "I saw them and I wanted to get them for the baby."

She nodded her head. She had been looking at all the baby things in shop windows lately. She could barely resist buying out the store of all the wonderful clothes and furniture.

She had to use a great deal of control when she only bought a bassinet and a few jumpers for her expected arrival.

Lately, her heart had stopped hurting. She no longer felt the need to stay out in the cold. No longer wanted to not eat. Lately, she had felt sad and lonely, but no longer in any pain.

It was strange how she felt so alone these days. She could tell Robert was sensing it.

"Have you heard anything from the war office?" He asked as she ran a finger over the shinny buckles of the baby shoes.

"Nothing." Ariadne said sadly. "I probably won't know anything for certain for a long time." She sighed.

Robert looked at her with those clear, responsive eyes.

"Ariadne, you know that no matter what happens, I'll be there for you. I don't want you to feel like you're all alone." He said.

She blinked and felt her heart race.

"Robert..." She wasn't sure what she would say next because Maurice started yelling for help in his room. He wanted water, he wanted to sit up. Where was everyone? No one was ever around when he needed them.

Ariadne and Robert looked at each other uncomfortably before she left him to attend to the older man.


	47. Chapter 47

47.

~ Ariadne was folding down a handmade blanket in the new bassinet. It was late in the evening and she could hear Beth clacking away on a new typewriter.

Her sister-in-law was interviewing her every evening for the article that was turning into a more detailed thing. The pretty nurse was made to recount details of war time London and the Blitz. Beth wanting to know everything about what went on during the bombings and how she felt. They hadn't even reached meeting Arthur yet as Beth was collecting pages and pages for her article.

"My editor is really excited about this." Beth said happily.

Ariadne nodded and pulled out the little shoes Robert had gotten her. For some reason, she didn't tell Beth about the shoes. Her sister-in-law wouldn't be mad or suspicious about it. Wouldn't judge her. Ariadne had done nothing wrong. Her employer had just given her an nice gift for her baby. That was all.

So why did she feel the need to hide them from Beth?

"Did you think the bombs would hit you every time they started?" Beth asked over her writing.

"No, not every time." Ariadne told her. "Sometimes, we heard nothing at all. It was really quite and we thought it must have been a false alarm."

"But when the bombs fell, what was that like?" Beth asked.

Ariadne thought back to those frightening days.

~ She had been ordered to the shelter the first night she was in England. Her feet bandaged from the open wounds she got from all her walking.

A nurse helped her to walk and they bled again as they reached, not a shelter, but a spot under the stairs.

It had been daylight out and she heard sounds like thunder approaching them.

The bombings making windows rattle as they approached closer and closer. She noticed that all the windows were taped shut as well as all the picture frames. But still, the hospital shook on it's foundation as the bombing grew closer and closer.

She held her breath as a bomb struck close, knocking things off tables and shattering glass that wasn't taped down.

"It's alright." A red cross nurse whispered to them as she heard the thunder roll away.

That had been the first real bombing she had endured. She had been so scared and the hospital staff told her it was nothing. Noting at all.

~ "It was scary at first. You kept thinking they were coming for you. They would hit you. You would hope that the bomb would hit the building next to you. I know that sounds terrible." Ariadne said as Beth listened.

"It doesn't sound terrible." Beth said. Her keys clacking again as she took down Ariadne's story.

Beth could never understand what Ariadne had gone through. Never truly felt how horrible it was. Beth had never gone without a meal, never hid in a shelter, never walked till her feet bled and her shoes were useless. Beth never had to work 16 hours strait till she was soaking in her own sweat and her hair, body and clothes smelled of awful things.

Beth could never understand what it was like to not have running water in a hospital full of wounded. Never know what it was like to work on no sleep and have men die before you.

Ariadne bit her lip. She never wanted Arthur home more then she did at this moment. She wanted someone who had shared her experience and not need words. Who could be more then just an observer. She wanted someone to talk to.

"Oh, by the way." Beth said taking a break. "The mail came. You got something from a hospital in London."

Ariadne stashed the shoes Robert gave her under the bassinet and went to the stack of bills and letters on the table.

A heavily stamped envelope was waiting from her. She recognized the sharp, steel engraved writing of the Matron.

Her throat caught. It was news of Arthur's death. She knew it was. She knew that the Matron had found Arthur in the hospital and had been unable to save him.

She didn't even want to touch the letter. Didn't want to know. She was happier not knowing.

'_Arthur, Arthur, Arthur._' She thought.

She suddenly remembered their first meeting. Her mysterious Lieutenant. Then her charming Captain who took her to the movies and for a picnic. Her handsome Major and her husband. How could he be gone? She couldn't bare it.

She pocketed the envelope and told Beth she was going out for a walk.

"Alright." Beth said distractedly.

~ Robert's apartment was opulent and comfortable. The well groomed man opened the door for her after a few seconds of knocking.

"Ariadne." He breathed in shock. "Are you alright?" He asked seeing she was upset.

"I'm sorry to drop in on you like this." She almost cried. She was shakily removing the envelope from her coat pocket.

~ Robert brought her inside. Maurice was sleeping soundly as the two younger people talked in hushed whispers.  
"I asked her to write me if she found Arthur. My husband." Ariadne said wiping the tears away.

"You didn't open it?" Robert asked looking over the envelope. She shook her head.

"I was too scared." She said not able to stop shaking. Her hands trembling as Robert's hand came over her own.

"Let's open it now." He said calmly.

She nodded.  
"I know it's going to tell me he's dead. I didn't want to read it in front of his sister." She whispered as Robert used a letter opener to slice into the envelope.

The well groomed young man read and re-read the letter.

"Well?" Ariadne said about to jump out of her skin.

"Nothing about your husband." Robert said. He cleared his throat and read.

"Dear Madam, I have located a gentleman by the name of Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Cobb. He was rescued off the front lines in Germany last week. He is on the mends and will be returning to his homeland. He was saying the name Arthur. When I inquired more information, he said Arthur was alive and right behind him. Regrettably, I know nothing more. I will write when I have more information."

Ariadne could almost hear the voice of the Matron. Ever efficient. Ever professional.

She let out a sigh of relief.

"So we don't know if he's dead or not." Ariadne whispered.

"He was alive and well the last time this Cobb person saw him. That was a over a week ago. Maybe he's alright." Robert offered.

"Then why hasn't he contacted me?" She cried. She felt the tears spring to her eyes. She knew Arthur was dead. She could feel an emptiness in her heart at the memory of her Captain and their picnic. Of how handsome her major looked when she danced on his feet. Of her mysterious Lieutenant kissing her. He was dead and in the graveyard of Europe.

_Like magic, her mind flashed an image of a dead, rotting face._

_It's eyes sunken in. _

_It's mouth pulled back, exposing teeth. _

_It's flesh weathered and gray, but unmistakably, Arthur._

"He is most likely on some top secret mission." Robert said soothingly. "He might not be able to write or call."

Robert's voice was so calm and logical. Of course he was right. The image of her dead major faded sharply from her eyes.

She nodded. She felt better somehow.

"Thank you, Robert." She said as that pain in her heart eased a little.

"Let me take you home." He said kindly.

~ Arthur was a solider. He hadn't set out in life to be one. As a boy, he played with metal army men. But he grew up and went to law school. Playing solider now seemed so childish. Yet here he was, knee deep in mud as he was helping to dislodge a jeep in the pouring rain.

"She's wadded in there." One of the men said after they stripped the jeep of all non essentials to make it lighter. It took an hour to finally free it from the mud pit. Arthur was too exhausted to build a tent. Instead, he chose to sleep in the jeep and watch the stars.

He had been using a motorcycle to traverse the dangerous roads. The colonel telling him to be careful as the major felt a need to be reckless lately. He felt so powerless since he was told he couldn't contact Ariadne. His wife must be frantic with worry.

~ He woke up in the early dawn, the camp was still and too quite. A heavy mist had settled over the field the battalion had camped at, and hid everything from view. Even they sky was clouded over and he couldn't tell if it was dawn or high noon. For an irrational moment, Arthur thought the battalion had left without him. Marched on and left him sleeping.

He was a ways away from the rest of them. Closer to the mud pit they had dug the jeep free from. Why he didn't start the jeep up and drive to the camp, he never could explain. But nature was calling him and he clumsily stumbled out of his seat to go behind a bush.

He walked into the camp as the chill in the air was hitting him. They had been on the march for days now and there were the constant sounds of bombing as the Soviets were pounding on the door of Berlin.

But this morning, everything was calm. Eerily calm and still. Arthur reached the tents where hundreds of men were sleeping peacefully. The mist covering everything in a sleeping haze so thick, he could barely see four feet in front of him. He noticed the sentries were asleep and shook his head.

"Wake up, Corporal." He growled at the young man. "Uncle Sam isn't paying you to get your beauty rest."

The youth said nothing and didn't wake. Arthur kicked his shoe.

"Corporal?" Arthur asked.  
The young man's head lulled to the side and it was then that Arthur saw the bright red line across his neck.

The youth had his throat slit while he was sleeping.

Arthur quickly felt for a pulse and couldn't find one. The body was cool but still a little warm, he hadn't been dead for long.

The Major's first instincts were to alert the camp that someone had invaded them. But his more rational mind, which always won out, said to stay low and be quite. The rest of the camp was sleeping. He could hear heavy snores coming from tents.

Arthur took advantage of the fog. It hid him as he moved stealthy from tent to tent. His ears straining to pick up any movement. His eyes trying to penetrate the fog. Finally, he saw it. Dark figures in the mist. Moving around on silent feet. The shoulders slumped and bent down. Picking up things. Arthur crept closer to them. They were speaking German in hurried whispers and Arthur had difficulty understanding them because of their accents.

He only caught the words, "hurry... weapons... Americans... get that... hurry."

Whoever they were, they had killed the sentry on duty. A boy not much older then 18 and were trying to steal weapons from them. Arthur readied the handgun he never went without these days. He even slept with it on. Along with his boots, helmet and his cigarettes case tucked in his breast pocket.

Silently, silently, he found himself a good position. He counted five of them. No more, no less. They were hard to see from the fog but they appeared to be working alone.

"We can take a jeep?" One of them asked.

Arthur shook his head at the audacity of it.

In his clear, well practiced German her took aim and said.  
"Excuse me, those belong to me."

His firing was rapid and on target. The invaders barely had time to stand up before they were cut down by the Major's bullets. The fog swallowing them whole.


	48. Chapter 48

48.

~ The camp around him burst into life at the sound of five gunshots breaking the quite of the morning. Everywhere they was shouting as men sprang from tents and ran wildly around with rifles in hand.

"Were secure!" Arthur shouted waving at the gruff Colonel who appeared out of the mist. He had barley time to put his boots and helmet on before storming out of his bed looking for a fight.

"What the fuck happened, Major?" He barked.

"They murdered our sentry." Arthur said approaching the figures in the mist. Their bodies half hidden. "They slit his throat, and were trying to steal supplies."

There was general uproar as some men went to check the sentry. Confirming he was dead.

"Damn Nazis. They don't know when their beat." The gruff officer said. "Good job, Major. Although in the future, can we wait till after breakfast? I was having the best dream about your wife." He chuckled slapping Arthur on the back.

Arthur hadn't heard a word of it. He had reached the thieves and was looking over them.

"Sir?" He said gravely. "You need to see this."

Children. Not one of them over 16 years old. The youngest had to be only nine. They were dressed in weathered rags to protect them from the cold and their faces looked half starved. Arthur was feeling their pulses and their breath. Hoping to find one breathing.

But he had done his job too well. His shots had been to precise. They were all dead.

"Must have been looking for food. Probably been in survival mode this whole time. Why they killed the watchman." The gruff officer said looking over the dead bodies.

Arthur could no longer stand and sat down in the dewy grass. One of them was a girl with long brown hair, not much older then 14. He couldn't stop looking at the girl who looked like a young version of his wife.

She and the rest of them were just looking to survive. They were not Nazis, they were not the enemy.

"Major." The gruff officer said. "You couldn't have known. With this fog and the privet being killed." He gripped Arthur's shoulder and glared at the other men standing around them.

"You men pack up! We're leaving camp!" he bellowed. The camp moved like the colonel was Zeus on the mountain. They moved on and left the bodies behind.

~ Robert drove Ariadne to the war office. She filled out a change of address and almost kicked herself for not doing it before. He offered to drive her to her mother-in-laws home, but Ariadne shook her head. She didn't want to see Lydia ever again.

"Well, the other nurse is with Dad for day." Robert said. "I have the day open. Why don't we go to the movies?"

~ Beth had been forever moaning over 'Casablanca' and Ariadne was glad to see it was still at the dime show. Robert wouldn't hear of her paying for her own ticket.

"We're friends, I can treat a friend to a movie." He laughed as he bought her a chocolate bar. Ariadne looked at the wrapping and felt her throat swell shut with emotion.

~ It had been a thrilling movie. Humphrey Bogart was so dashing and reminded her of her major. Robert gave her his handkerchief as she realized she was crying at the end.

~ "You didn't like the movie?" He asked as they walked in the park later that evening.

The romance of the love story, Paris and the threat of war made her head swim remembering Arthur. How he had courted her. Loved her.

"Do you think Ilsa really loved Victor?" She asked. "I mean, she was planing on running away with Rick."

Robert shook his head.

"No, Victor was her husband and a good man. Rick was just a romance she had in Paris. That's what people do when their in Paris. Fall madly in love with some handsome stranger and never see them again. It isn't real." Robert said casually. "I work with these war time brides everyday. They meet their husbands in the romance of war. Thinking every day will be their last. They see in their men what they want to see. Then their husbands come back from war and things are not so romantic anymore."

His words had bite to them. Ariadne blinked. She had pictured her own romance with Arthur much like Ilsa and Rick.

Robert went on.

"That kind of love isn't really love. It's infatuation. Real love, it takes more time to make it work. Anyone can fall in love in Paris, with a war on the way. It's the less romantic parts that really matter." He finished.

"I have to go." Ariadne said her stomach feeling tight.

"What's wrong?" Robert said. "Was it something I said?"

"No, I just... I have to go." She said abandoning him.

She narrowly missed being hit by a cab as Robert was shouting at her to come back.

~ "Have a drink, Major." The gruff colonel was saying as he poured Arthur a shot of whiskey.

"I don't drink." Arthur said leaning back on his chair. Making it balance on only two legs. His mind had been lost in thought for hours now. The Army's relentless march into Berlin had been chaotic and everything was a mash of confusion, rain, blood and death.

The city was all but leveled. Heavy bombs had blown it to near rubble as the Red Army savagely converged. The past month was a haze of fighting and killing.

Arthur had been wounded, although not severely. A stray metal fragment from a forgotten mine had clipped his arm and hit the skinny Corporal in the head. Killing him instantly.

Arthur tried for what felt like hours to revive him before giving up. His thoughts were on how he first met that Corporal. When he helped him blow up that camp. It felt so long ago now. The skinny Corporal had stood by him after they were captured and had followed him into battle without question. Now, that trusting young man had died because of some senseless explosion that was not intended for them.

"Today, you drink." The Colonel said. "It's not everyday you have a front row seat to the end of a war. The Russians are saying that Hitler is dead. Shot himself in the head, the _pussy_." He added downing his drink.

Arthur said nothing and didn't touch his glass. He had stopped shaving over the past few days. He didn't like to look at himself lately in the mirror. He didn't recognize his face anymore.

He felt an uncomfortable itch on his arm where the shrapnel had hit. They had lost their medic a few days before and had almost no medical supplies left. Colonel Burch had cleaned and dressed the wound as best he could, but Arthur knew he needed stitches and it would most likely leave a scar on his arm.

His wound was itchy and starting to throb in pain. Arthur ignored it. He welcomed pain now.

"Are you still upset because of what happened with those thieves?" The Colonel asked.

Arthur didn't answer. The colonel never calling them children or teenagers. Always '_thieves_'. Made things easier.  
"Well don't be." he barked. "You did what you had to do to protect the lives of your unit. I would have done the same." He said. "I want you to know, I've put a letter of commendation in your file. You have preformed above and beyond the call of duty over the past few months, solider. I see another promotion, with a command of your own in your near future."

"That's very kind of you, Sir." Arthur said. "But all I see in my future is going home to my wife and baby. All I want to do is go home, and take care of them."

"We can expect to be debriefed in the next few days." The gruff officer said. "Not much longer now and you can send her a telegram saying your alive and well.

~ Arthur went to sleep that night looking at the weathered photo of Ariadne. How he wished he could go back in time, to not even a year ago now. He was still virtually innocent to the war. At how bad things could be. He could still touch her, and see her in color. Her perfume coming off her. Or maybe that was just the way she smelled naturally. He had taken for granted how easy it was to touch her.

Perhaps, she had only been a dream. Perhaps, this hell, was reality.

He woke up sweating. The wound on his arm was blazing hot and painful.


	49. Chapter 49

49.

~ Robert sent her flowers. They were beautiful pink roses that filled her little room with a light perfume. She had never had a man give her flowers before Arthur. The roses Robert sent were perfect and smelled heavenly. Exactly as roses should smell. Arthur had given her wild flowers he had picked from some field before taking her to the movies. They smelled like summer and sunlight.

She was quick to hide the roses before Beth saw. Her heart racing at the note Robert sent.

_Ariadne,_

_ I'm sorry for whatever it was I said to upset you so much. _

_Please come by and see me so I can know what I did to make you so angry with me. _

_I don't like it when were not talking._

_ Robert._

She had gone to his home to care for Maurice. The older man glad to see her. His son trying to get her alone so they could talk. The pretty nurse making any excuse not to be alone with him.

~ "Ariadne, I'm really sorry." Robert pleaded as she fixed Maurice something to eat.

"I'm not mad." She told him stiffly as she went back to the older man. She bought a new dress. A brown ugly thing that would allow her belly to grow and not need changing maternity dresses. It would be serviceable as a work dress.

The older man was eating his bread and he seemed to see her larger belly for the first time.  
"I'm so glad to see you like this." Maurice commented. "So glad Robert has you and the little one."

Ariadne thought for a moment to explain, but Maurice was in his own world most days. He had been having a very good day and wanted to talk.

"Robert will be a good father. Better then me. He was always so caring." Maurice told them as he nosily sipped soup.

Robert was sitting at the table with them and looked amazed his father had said anything nice about him.

"I never made time for my boy." Maurice told Ariadne as she turned her attention back to her sewing. She was making another jumper for the baby.

"My wife died when he was still young and I just didn't know how to care for him." Maurice said sadly. "I think the only time he and I ever spent alone was a trip to Yankee stadium." He laughed.

Robert was quite as his father ignored him.

"Robert drew this picture of the ball players." The old man chuckled. "I showed him how to turn it into a pinwheel. He thought it was so great."

Maurice looked sad.

"That was the only time I was able to ever make my son happy." He said sadly. "He was such a good boy."

"Mr. Fischer, you have to remember to tell Robert this. I'm sure he would love to hear it." Ariadne said.

The old man shook his head.

"He knows." Maurice said. Back to his grumpy self. "Robert will be a good father."

Maurice finished eating and told Ariadne he hoped the baby would be a girl.

"Why?" She laughed.

"Girls are nicer. We need nicer people in this family." Maurice grumbled.

~ "Thank you." Robert whispered to her as he walked her to his car. He still insisted on taking her home each day. "For getting my dad to say that."

"He _wanted_ to say it, Robert." Ariadne said. Her hands to her belly. She felt shy around Robert lately.

"I had forgotten about that day." Robert laughed. "He took me to a ball game. Spent the whole day with me. He taught me how to make that pinwheel. I didn't think it meant anything to him." Robert said. Tears pricking his clear, blue eyes.

The nurse in her, the person who cared about others came out. She took Robert's hand.

"He loves you, Robert." She told him.

Robert held her hand as they were slowed by traffic.

"Dad and I never agree on much, but I think I _would_ make a good father." He said not looking at her. "If you would ever think of having me." He said in a voice so soft she almost didn't hear.

Ariadne didn't release his hand. The idea of a life with Robert flooding her mind. A family with him was something that would be so easy.

A life that was not complicated by war or hardship or a past. Robert would give her a new life. A life where she never walked out of France from a family that wasn't hers. A life where her feet were never bleeding and she wasn't sure if she was alive or dead. A life where she never ran from bombs or treated the wounded till her hands shook.

She blinked as she saw Linda stepping out of the cab in front of them and walk to Ariadne and Beth's building.

"Robert, I have to go. Thank you for the ride home." She said in a robot like voice.

"Ariadne, wait." Robert said.

She opened her door and left him in traffic before he could say more.

~ "What are you doing here?" Ariadne asked the glamors socialite that was Arthur's ex.

Linda was waiting for the elevator when Ariadne surprised her. She jumped and put a hand to her heart.

"Oh, you scared me. This is a scary neighborhood!" Linda laughed in that annoying false tone of hers.  
"What are you doing here?" Ariadne asked again.

Linda looked at Ariadne's belly.

"I was hoping we could talk." Linda said.

~ "Have you heard form Arthur?" Linda asked as Ariadne fixed her tea in the apartment she shared with Beth. Arthur's sister wasn't home yet and they were alone.

"No, I was hoping maybe his mother received some information." Ariadne said and Linda politely sipped her tea.

"I'm afraid she hasn't." Linda said. "She's so worried. She has been thinking a lot about you and your baby."

"_Arthur's_ baby." Ariadne corrected coldly.

Linda looked slightly annoyed.

"That's what I came to talk to you about. Lydia wants to see the baby after he or she is born. If she thinks that it is Arthur's child, if it looks like him, she wants to see it. Spend a few days a week. That kind of thing." Linda said very formally.

"Why didn't she come to see me?" Ariadne asked.

Linda didn't answer.

"We hope Arthur will make it home." Linda said at last. "If he does, we hope that you will let him and I take custody of his child. I have searched my heart and I can forgive him this... indiscretion. If he wants to be in this child's life. Then that's what I want. I am willing to be a mother to his child. I care for him that much." Linda said stiffly.

Ariadne didn't understand what she was hearing.

"Linda." She said. Her voice like ice. "I'm not some girl he met in France and fooled around with. He _married_ me. I was never in his bed until our wedding night. I have no intention of giving you my child. Arthur is coming home. But he is not coming home to you. He's coming home to me." The pretty nurse said. Her steel seeping into her bones and making her body hard.

Linda glared at her.

"Men do all kinds of things while their away at war. They behave without decency at times. He was caught up in the romance of war and Paris. But when the war is over, and he is home, he will see what a mistake he has made." Linda said.

Ariadne thought the glamorous socialite looked like an ice queen. She had given voice to everything that Ariadne had ever feared.  
"It must hurt you, to know that you are just some war time fling. But I promise Arthur and I will take care of his child. If it is his baby." Linda said in a sickly kind voice.

Ariadne felt odd somehow. As if possessed by an entity she didn't own. If anything, she felt like... the Matron.  
"Linda, it was so nice you took the time to see me. I doubt I will take you up on your offer. I, for one, question your skills as a mother. Arthur also had his doubts which is why he didn't want to marry you. Please don't come back because Arthur is done with you. But tell his mother I would love to see her." Ariadne said taking her guest's cup and opening the front door.

Linda looked dangerous somehow as she eyed Ariadne and stepped off her chair. Her lean, graceful frame carrying her out of the apartment.

~ Arthur was sick. He woke up with a high fever and his body was hurting. He knew he threw up at one point and Colonel Burch was yelling.  
"You're not cutting off my boy's damn arm you _butcher_!" The gruff old man barked at a medic. Arthur tried to open his eyes but his vision was blurry and his face felt so hot.

His arm felt too big as a medic was cutting his shirt off. The place where he had taken the shrapnel a few days ago, felt so hot and tight.

"Sir?" Arthur croaked to the colonel helplessly.  
"Don't you worry, Son." Burch said to him. "Their taking you to London. You're going to be fine."

"I'm so hot." Arthur gasped as he looked at his arm.

It was swollen and the large wound was bright red.

"We need to drain it. Get the puss out." The medic said getting a scalpel ready.

Before Arthur could protest, he watched in horror as the medic cut his arm open. Large amounts of amber colored fluid streamed out of the incision as the medic bore down.

"Oh." Arthur breathed as he was mesmerized by his arm. The tightness in his skin eased up and his arm felt better as he watched the medic rid the infection from his arm.

"We need to move him." The medic said. "We have a truck ready."

"Sir, my bag. My pictures." Arthur choked out. He didn't want to leave without his cigarette case. Not without his sweetheart.

"It's all ready." Colonel Burch said soothingly. "Don't you worry, you'll see her soon."

He nodded and passed out as they gave him pain medication. He never got the chance to tell Colonel Burch goodbye.

~ Arthur woke up in a strange place. He took his time looking around. Not wanting to let anyone know he was awake. His basic survival skills kicking in from all the months he spent fighting at the front.

He was in a long room. Clean, white hospital beds running together. Crowding the already large room. It was night time and the other patients were all sleeping. There were others, men who were moaning in pain. But the majority of them were making deep sounds of heavy sleep.

'_I'm in a hospital._' Arthur thought looking around him at last. He spotted a nurse and an orderly at a desk but didn't call to them. His arm was throbbing in pain and he looked at it. Half expecting it to be three times it's normal size. The memory of the swelling and the medic draining it came back to him.

It was a normal size. Cleanly wrapped in white dressing. Everything about this place was clean and well kept.

"I see that we are awake." Came a voice. Arthur looked over and saw the chubby nurse with thick glasses coming to him. Her accent was English.

"Where am I?" He asked. His throat was dry and his body felt weak as he tried to sit up.  
"You're in London." She said pleasantly looking over his arm. She stood and gave him some water. "I must say, we are very glad to see you awake. You have been sleeping so much the past few days we thought you would never come out of it."

"How long have I been here?" He asked trying to sit up again. His arm hurt too much and he collapsed down in the bed again.

"Oh dear, that won't do." She said worriedly. "I'll get you something for the pain, Major." She said going back to the nurses station.

She came back with a shot and told him he had been taken from the front, to London on special orders form some important Colonel.

"You had a very bad infection." The chubby nurse said pleasantly. "Doctor wanted to amputate your arm right there at the field hospital in Berlin, but the Colonel said no."

"Field hospital?" Arthur asked as he could feel the drugs kicking in. "I don't remember that." He said sadly.

"Well, the Doctor here saved your arm and you'll be going home. War is over. Hitler's dead."

Arthur didn't process what she had said.

"My things?" He croaked. "I... my cigarette case... where are my things?" he croaked.  
"Relax, Major." The chubby nurse said holding up his pack. "Everything is here."

He ignored the pain in his arm and searched though his pack. His things had been thrown into his bag hastily, most likely by the gruff Colonel. Arthur's hand alighted on the cold cigarette case and her face appeared before him again.

"There you are." He whispered to her, feeling himself calm down.

He closed his eyes, and dreamed of Ariadne.


	50. Chapter 50

50.

~ Cobb had come home that week from London. Robert had connections at the hospital and was able to alert the pretty nurse when he arrived.

The colonel was glad to be home, but he was nothing like the man she had met in Paris. He was too thin, and his body looked spent and worn. He seemed tired and haunted. He would look at his wife as if he couldn't trust her.

His wife was truly a lovely woman. Mal was graceful, elegant and cultured. She reminded Ariadne of a model more then a normal woman with two children. They spoke briefly as Cobb seemed bothered by things the women couldn't see. Robert had spoken with him, asking if he wanted to come and talk to him. Cobb becoming angry at the idea of a therapist.  
"Cobb, what happened to Arthur?" Ariadne asked when they had a moment alone. The war weary colonel looked sickly but was still alert.

"Last I saw him, he was a prisoner." Cobb said sadly.

"Was he alright?" She asked feeling her heart beat loudly in her chest. The rush of blood to her brain making her dizzy.

"He was the last time I saw him." Cobb said. "that was 3 months ago now. I don't know what happened after I was evacuated."

~ Robert was waiting for her outside. Waiting to take her home.

"How is he?" He asked gently.  
"Not well." Ariadne said. "He looks so different."

Robert nodded.

"His doctor has him on the list for counseling. A lot of our men are coming home with all kinds of problems." Robert said. "It will take a lot to convince him to even come to therapy."

"What's wrong with him?" She asked.

"Night terrors. Panic attacks. His wife is very worried. He's been fighting with her a lot." Robert said.

"Is that common?" Ariadne asked as he walked her out of the hospital. "With the men coming back?"

"Just the other day, I had a young man beat his wife to death. He had just come home from Japan. The shock of being home was too much for him." Robert said. "We need to take care of our service men once they come home. The doctors are calling it post war trauma."

"Arthur could be like that when he comes home." Ariadne said sadly.

"Well, hopefully not." Robert said as she suddenly felt dizzy and sick.

"Ariadne?" Robert asked feeling her forehead.

"I don't feel well." She whispered.

Suddenly she felt her world go sideways and she was on the floor. Robert kneeling by her side and shouting for help from the hospital staff.

"She's still 4 months away." Robert said worriedly as the nurses lifted her onto a gurney.

"Doctor Fischer, wait here. We will take good care of your wife." A nurse said.

"Robert?" Ariadne croaked. Looking for a lifeline to reach out to.

"It'll be alright, Ariadne." Robert promised. The well groomed young man looking scared as she was wheeled into an exam room.

~ She was given medication to stop her early labor.

"No more work. Bed rest until you deliver." The doctor had said. "No more stress." He added.

Ariadne nodded as she was glad her early labor had subsided. She couldn't lose this baby. Aside from a news article, a clumsy wedding band, and a few pictures, this baby was all she had of her major.

"I'm sorry Robert." Ariadne felt ready to cry as the well groomed man came into the room. He looked kindly at her. A trait she never really noticed till now. Robert never became upset or angry.  
"It's fine. So long as you're alright." Robert said from her bedside. "Dad's doing a lot better because of you. I think I can get some part time help and he will be fine. It's important that you rest."

Ariadne nodded and bit her lip. Her baby felt so uncomfortable right now. She still had 4 more months. How could she tolerate that much longer of bed rest?

"You're a doctor." She said in surprise.  
He chuckled.

"Yes, not a strictly medical doctor." He said. "I had to go to medical school so I could prescribe medications."

"Arthur wanted me to go to medical school." Ariadne said weakly.

Robert nodded. His clear eyes kind.

She shook her head.

"With the baby, and the fact that Arthur might not come home... It's just a silly idea." Ariadne said feeling foolish.

"No it's not." Robert said. "You brought my dad back when other doctors gave his condition up to dementia. They were not even willing to look at him."

The well groomed man showed a brief flash of anger at her doubting herself.

"And we don't know if your husband is truly lost or not. Lets... not make _plans_ till we know for sure." Robert said sitting on the edge of her bed.

His eyes full of meaning.

His warm hands finding hers.

For a moment, she felt that happy rush flood through her. A life with Robert. He would be an intellectual companion to her. A man so caring and sensitive to others. He would love her child. She was sure of that. The well groomed young man wanting so much to love something, it would be so easy for him to accept a new baby as his own and never think of it as anyone's but his.

They could have a life together. She would have no past, only a future with him.

A life with Robert would be easy and a fresh start. She would no longer be a girl who washed up on some forgotten shore all alone. She and her child would be cared for and provided for. He wasn't a soldier and would never risk death to defend others. He would never leave her all alone despite words that he loved her.

She suddenly felt guilty for thinking about Robert that way.

Guilty that a deeply buried seed of resentment at Arthur started to grow. She was angry that he wasn't here with her now. She realized she was bitter towards a husband that sent her alone to this strange country with a mother-in-law who hated her and called her a whore. She was hurt that Arthur was not here, taking care of her like he promised he would.

She tired to force those feelings away as Robert told her they wouldn't speak of any plans till they knew for certain Arthur's fate.

~ Arthur had no idea how long he was at the hospital. He read a discarded news paper article that said Hitler had committed suicide in Berlin just a few weeks before the Major was wounded and sent to London.

The talk was constantly about the war ending and all the celebrations going on. Nurses anxious to leave their duties to go to parties. The women talking of some sweetheart coming home now that the war was done.

Their talk interrupted by a boney, harpie like nurse told them about work to be done and for the wounded, the war would never end.

Arthur almost laughed at how seriously the woman took herself.

~ Summer came bright and early one day as the nurses all forced the wounded men out of their beds and into the fresh air and sunshine. Arthur didn't want to argue with the boney nurse as she ordered thousands of men onto the front lawn to air out so the staff could clean the hospital.

The older woman was like Moses leading them to a better land as they flooded out of the hospital and onto the grass.

There was thousands of wounded men crowded into the hospital. Some of their beds were lined against hallway walls. No room for them left as nurses and doctors were overworked with the heavy bombardment of wounded.

Arthur refused a wheelchair and walked out into the gardens on his own power.

He almost thought he saw a ghost when his eyes fell on a familiar sight.

"Eames?" Arthur laughed.

The British Lieutenant looked up at the major.

"Arthur." Eames said. The lieutenant forcing himself to sound happy. Arthur saw he was in a wheelchair now. His leg heavily bandaged and rendered immobile.  
"What happened?" Arthur asked as he sat down next to his old friend. His arm still hurt and he couldn't make his fingers move very well. He had to keep it wrapped tightly to his chest which made doing little things like dressing himself difficult.

"Land mine." Eames said bitterly. "I was lucky it didn't kill me. Killed the other boys with me."

"I'm sorry." Arthur said sadly.

"Yes, seems the reason my girl didn't want to get married before I went off to war was because she was worried this might happen. See, doctors are not sure if I'll lose the leg or not. She doesn't want a cripple for a husband." Eames told him.

"Has she come by to see you?" Arthur asked.

"Just now. Her and her new fellow. She said she didn't mean for it to happen." Eames bitterly

"I'm sorry." Arthur said again. What else could he say?

"I should have seen it coming. For four years and I was so focused on having my fun in this war. Never gave her much attention. Always thought she would be waiting for me." Eames sighed.

"Eames, I'm really glad you made it out. Girl or no girl waiting for you. You're a hero to me and Ariadne." Arthur said.

The Lieutenant looked at his old friend and smiled.

"I guess there's that." He laughed. "How is your girl?"

Arthur shook his head.

"I haven't heard from her since I was captured. I wasn't allowed to make contact till I was debriefed." Arthur said sadly.

"Well, Now that the war is almost done, you'll be able to let her know you're alive." Eames said hopefully.

Arthur nodded.

~ For some reason, he didn't want to think about Ariadne. He wasn't the man he used to be. He was too thin and his face looked so much older and worn down. He would look in the shaving mirror in near shock a the ghost staring back at him.

He wasn't the young man who had swept her off her feet a year ago in Paris. He wasn't confident and brave anymore. The imprisonment, the endless push into Germany and the war in general had taken too much out of him.

He found he was pulling into himself each night and shutting out the world.

~ He had found the tattered copies of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" tucked into his bag. He thought briefly to the colonel who these books belonged to. The older man must have stuffed them in his bag before he was evacuated.

Arthur flipped open "The Odyssey". He wanted to read about Penelope. He spotted the colonel's messy handwriting.

_Major,_

_ I hope when you read this, your safe from all this fucking madness and back home to that nice girl who married you. I want you to find your "Penelope" and live a long happy life with her. You deserve it. _

_ My wife died giving birth to my son, and I have always liked to imagine he would have grown into a man as fine as you. Go home, Son. Go home, and put this shit war behind you. Raise an army of brave little kids who never know what a war is like._

_ The bastards will be lucky to have such a man as their father. _

_ Your Friend,_

_Colonel Nathaniel Burch_

Arthur fought the tears that wanted to well up in his eyes.


	51. Chapter 51

51.

~ "It's not correct to say the Germans. It's not Germany who cause the war in Europe." Beth said.

"I was there." Ariadne told her knitting a pair baby booties from her spot on the sofa. Beth was typing again. "I know who was shooting at us. Who was bombing us."

"We're supposed to say the _Nazis_, not the _Germans_. There's a difference." The socialite said. "The Nazis are a fascist faction of Germans. Just because they are the loudest, doesn't men they speak for all the people of Germany." Beth told her.

"Where did you learn this?" Ariadne laughed. It was a well practiced speech that Beth treated with reverence.

"We have a lot of German refugees coming in right now. They don't like to be grouped together in Hitler's madness. A lot of them were just as much a victim of that mad man as anyone else."

"I see." Ariadne said.

"So, you were in Paris, tell me about how my brother tricked you into marrying him." Beth said.

"Well, it wasn't overnight." Ariadne told her with a smile at the memory. Summer was bearing down on the city and the windows to the girls apartment were open and letting in fresh air.

Ariadne missed Paris. Dieing of summer flowers in the field where she and Arthur had eaten a picnic.

"He took me to see if my Uncles family was still there." Ariadne said. The countryside was still dangerous, but we drove there. On the way we had a picnic. I told him more about the evacuation." Ariadne said thinking about her charming Captain in that field. The way he listened to her and asked no questions as she tired to make sense of the evacuation.

"We went to the house and found it had been looted. Everything had been stolen. The furniture, even the wiring had been stripped out. My uncle and his family were long gone." She sighed.

Beth stopped her typing.

"What do you think happened to them?" Beth asked in a whisper.

Ariadne shrugged as if she didn't really care.

"Who knows? We were told the police, not the Gestapo took them. They never came back. It doesn't matter now." Ariadne said. She furrowed her brow as she realized she dropped a stitch.

"The cook told us my Cousin Phillip had run away before the police came." Ariadne said helpfully. But I have no way of finding out what happened to him. She said as if it made no difference.

~ Robert came to see her. He brought her a neatly packaged lunch and told her it was Chinese food.

"You'll love it." He promised as he showed her how to eat with chop sticks.

"How can you eat with these?" She said feeling deeply frustrated.

Robert only laughed.

"You'll learn. You need to take advantage of all the different cultures that live in this city." He told her.

"How is your dad?" She asked impaling a piece of chicken with her stick and eating it that way.

"Better. He misses you." Robert said. "I want to thank you for the time you've given me with him. He talks to me now like he never has before."

Ariadne smiled to herself.

"How is Cobb?" She asked. Robert looked uncomfortable.

"His wife checked him into the hospital last night." Robert said sadly. "Seems he was having a bad episode. He couldn't calm down. Kept yelling at her. Police were called and they brought him to the hospital."

"Oh God." Ariadne said. She couldn't imagine the soft spoken Colonel acting that way.

"We have him on medication. Were hoping he will take the therapy. His wife is threatening to leave him if he doesn't. He loves her. He doesn't want that to happen."

Her thoughts went to Arthur. Her Major was much less passive then Cobb. What would he be like if he came home.

As if reading her mind, Robert said:

"I'm sure Arthur won't be like that. According to Mal, Cobb was never meant to be a soldier."

She nodded. Arthur was made of a different stock then Cobb. But still, what would he be like when he came home.  
"I keep thinking what I'm going to say to him once he's home." Ariadne said. "So much time has gone by."

"Let's not think about it till the time comes." Robert said giving her a fork. He had pitty on the poor girl who couldn't eat with chop sticks.

"I brought you something." Robert said handing her a large soft cover book.

"What is it?" She asked.  
"NYU catalog." Robert said. "I've done some checking around, you can do most of your basic's through correspondence. You had some college in Paris before the war, but you might have to take the classes again."

"Robert." Ariadne said in surprise. She liked this gift even more then the baby shoes.

"You also don't have to take a few classes. Your nursing background makes you exempt." He said pleasantly.

She felt her eyes water as she looked over each course. An excitement stirring in her at the idea of going back to school.

Maybe, with Robert's help. She could make it work.

~ "Ariadne." Beth said one evening a few weeks later. "I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure, but I received a telegram from London the other day." Beth said.

The pretty nurse felt her heart pump too hard suddenly. Her vision fluttering as she felt dizzy.

"Is it Arthur?" She whispered.

Beth shook her head.  
"No. No it not Arthur." Beth said with a smile. "No. I have a contact at the paper who is helping people find family in Europe. Ariadne, I found Phillip." She said.

~ Arthur wasn't debriefed from his mission until almost June. His arm had healed and he was disgusted by the ugly scar on his right arm.

"Dames love scars." A cocky soldier said.

"I doubt my wife will." Arthur laughed.

~ He had been placed back on active duty. His wounds not severe enough anymore to cause him to stay in the hospital. He was sent back to Paris to help keep the peace. His days were lonely as he didn't know anyone he worked with now. The Paris he had been in a year ago, was different now. It was like that Paris had been a beautiful dream. He had been so happy. He was with his friends, and he had a beautiful nurse to take out.

Now, ever face he saw was a stranger.

Not even Trixie or anyone from before was left in Paris. The war was ending and he felt like the last person at the party. The one who was help cleaning up the mess.

There was a lot of work to be done. France seemed to have her sprint broken. Her people were sadden by the news paper reports of concentration camps. Pictures flooding news reels and upsetting women as they unshared their children out.

~ "Major, I know it took a long time to do these interviews, but we have a lot to go over." A high ranking general said.

"I understand, Sir." Arthur said stiffly. He hadn't been able to contact Ariadne in almost 6 months now and she surely Believed he was dead.

He spent days with this general giving him details of the camp. The men who captured him, his liberation and the march into Berlin. The general asked about the camps he saw the bodies that looked like old socks and most of all, about Colonel Burch.

"I was hoping to contact Colonel Burch as well." Arthur said remembering the Colonel who had taken the younger man under his wing. Who had saved him and brought him back from the brink.

"Major, I'm afraid the colonel was killed in Berlin a few months ago." The general said.

Arthur felt his ears start to ring. His mind not able to understand.

"No, Colonel Nathaniel Burch." Arthur said. It was a mistake. Surely they had made a mistake.

The general nodded.

"He took some fire a few days after you were evacuated." The general said. "He wrote a very flattering letter of recommendation about you. Recommended you for promotion and another Bronze Star."

"Colonel Nathaniel Burch." Arthur argued not listening to the general.

"I know you were close to him, Major." The general said sympathetically. "Right now were are interviewing all his surviving men. He is on the short list to receive the Medal of Honor."

Arthur said nothing as he couldn't seem to think. The colonel had told him he thought of him as a son. He would never see him again.


	52. Chapter 52

52.

~ Ariadne was waiting for Phillip at the small restaurant not far from her apartment. She felt so nervous. So scared to see the 16 year old boy who had abandoned her that summer five years ago.

Beth had offered to come with her. Had not wanted the stress of meeting her cousin again to hurt the baby. Ariadne told her she would be fine.

~ The pretty nurse fidgeted as she watched the clock. Phillip had written that he would be at the restaurant at 4 o'clock and he was late.

She didn't put together the man who walked into the restaurant as the same boy from that hot summer day. His hair was a dirty blond and he was too thin. His skin looked older then his 21 years. He looked more like he was in his mid thirties.

But his eyes, something in his eyes were the same.

"Ari-bell?" Phillip said as she burst into tears as and she hugged her cousin.

~ "After I came back to the house, everything was so crazy. My parents never even left their driveway. Their were people trying to get into the house. Looking for food and water. The traffic was so awful." He explained to her. The other patrons in the restaurant looking at the two of them speaking in very fast and easy French.

"What happened to them?" Ariadne asked. "I was told the police came for them."

He nodded.

"In the night. Mother tried to explain she wasn't Jewish. They took all of them in anyway." He told her.

"You got away?"

He nodded.

"I was in the back hallway and ran out through the garden. I hid with a family for a few days. I couldn't get out of France. The Nazis had take over. The family I was staying with allowed me to used the identity papers of their son who was killed on the front a few weeks before. I looked enough like him."

She nodded. With his blond hair and blue eyes, the Nazis must not have questioned him.

"I was sent to work for the Gestapo." He told her sadly. "They made all able bodied men build bunkers for them. I knew they had killed my family but what could I do?"

"Phillip, no one is judging you." She said taking his hand. Her cousin was no longer the boy she remembered. He was a haunted looking man now. Half starved and frightened.  
"I was allowed to come to America on a work visa. One of the good things about this war, it taught me a lot about electricity and radio. I had to repair and install them. So now I have a good trade. I think that's the only reason I was allowed to come here after the American's liberated France." he laughed.

Ariadne said nothing. Her cousin, her only family, was in France while she and Arthur were there. Possibly only a few miles away.

"Ari-Bell." He said soberly wiping tears away from his bright blue eyes. "I'm so sorry for leaving you there on that road. I felt so bad about it. You can't imagine how happy I am to know that you're alive and doing so well." He said as he nodded to her large belly.

"You had to look out for your family." She said sadly.

"Yes, but I never should have left you." He told her. "How did you get out?"

"The students we were traveling with. We arrived at Dunkirk and a soldier helped me get to England. I trained as a nurse there. When the American's retook France, I was with them. I met this very nice Army office named Arthur. We got married and he sent me to America till he's home." She said shyly.

"War is over. He should be home soon." Phillip said nodding to the influx of people in the city since the war in Europe ended.

Ariadne shook her head.

"He was declared MIA a few months ago. I haven't had any news since then." She whispered.

Phillip looked heart broken.

"Ari-Bell, I'm so sorry." He said taking her hand. "We have to believe that he is alive till we are told otherwise." He said.

Ariadne laughed.

"You don't know for sure your parents are dead. Do you honestly believe their still alive?" She said almost hatefully.

Phillip looked sad for a moment. He was nothing at all like the boy she had rode bikes with that day. A boy trying so hard to be a man. Now, he was a man with almost no traces of the boy in him.

"I never saw them die. I'll never _truly_ believe their gone." He whispered. "I'm just so grateful you're alive. It was so hard to come to this country all alone. To be alone in this world is a terrible thing, isn't it?"

She only gave him a faint smile.  
"Ariadne, I'm so sorry for the way we treated you. Mother was so evil sometimes. She never treated you like the family you were. I never treated you like family." He said.

"It's alright, Phillip." She whispered.  
"No it's not." He told her. "We have the chance to be a family and we're not going to lose each other. I won't leave you again." He promised as she started to cry.

~ Arthur was finally debriefed and he made his way to a bank of pay phones at the same hospital his pretty nurse had worked at. The building was haunted by the ghost of that dieing summer and cold fall.

Arthur dialed his mother's house. He was so excited to hear his wife's voice he realized he was fidgeting and biting his nails. The same habit he had when he was nervous. When he had first taken that pretty nurse out on a date to see _Bambi_.

The maid picked up and he didn't have long to wait till he heard his mother's voice.

"Arthur?" She cried. "Oh my boy! Is it really you?"

"Yes." He said holding back a laugh. "It's me. I'm alright."

"Oh, but I've been so worried about you. That girl told me you were missing and has refused to tell me anything else."

"That girl? Ariadne? Is she there? Put her on the phone." He asked. He could scarcely believe he was about to talk to her again. He tried to remember her voice as he smoothed down his shirt and hair. A foolish notion to look good in front of her even though they were on the phone.

"No, Arthur. She left." His mother said crisply.  
"What? What do you mean? When will she be back?" He asked.

"Son, she's is not coming back." Lydia explained. "She decided to move in with Beth and I haven't heard from either one of them. She has been so difficult you see."

"Mother, wait. Where is she?" He barked feeling his anger and frustration rise.  
"Arthur, listen to me. I'm not mad you got some girl in trouble. It was war time and you were lonely, I understand you tried to do the honorable thing. But I won't allow you to ruin your life over one mistake." Lydia said. "Linda has agreed to forgive you. I've already given her your grandmothers ring like we agreed before the war. If the baby is really yours, then she is willing to be it's mother.

"Mother." Arthur said sharply.

"That French girl trapped you, Arthur. I understand that. Just come home and we can get an annulment and you can marry Linda like you were meant to. You can forget this whole thing with her ever happened."

"_Mother! Where is my wife?_" Arthur shouted into the phone.

~ Arthur had to take a few moments to compose himself. His mother had told him his sister Beth and Ariadne had moved out of the family home over five months ago. That they hadn't told her where they went or told her any other news.

He knew his sister well enough to know she would have taken care of his wife as best she could and most likely, they had moved into a place together.

Never, had he imagined his mother to act like this. Her manners seemed to have changed from the loving but over protective parent she had been before. She was now hateful, spiteful and angry. She called his beloved Ariadne horrible things and accused her of being worse.

The war had changed her. Changed all of them.

He had heard in the worst way possible that his father had died over a year ago. He had wanted to talk to his father, his mother explaining about him becoming sick from the loss of his sons and dieing of grief. Jacob's death had hit him too hard. The old man losing the will to live.

"What's happened?" The general who was in charge of the American Army in Paris asked as Arthur stormed into his office.

The major's face was a violent rage. He had never felt so helpless and angry in his life.  
"My father's dead. My wife is missing. I have to go home." Arthur told him.


	53. Chapter 53

53.

~ It was not easy to leave his duties in Paris. As sympathetic as the general was, he couldn't release the valuable major right away.

Arthur called the war office in New York, but the influx of men coming home had made the organization too unreliable. He had his call dropped several times and he eventually gave up. He thought about calling his mother again, but felt sick at the idea of all those horrible names she had called his pretty nurse.

"Ariadne." He whispered as he looked at the sepia picture in the case. The photograph was barely a year old, but he knew he looked so much older now. He knew his face was haunted and lined from war.

He was no longer the man in this photograph. The man she married. The man who had his bride dance on his feet.

~ Ariadne had been having back pain all day.

"You alright?" Phillip asked her as he brought her a plate to eat. Her lost cousin had come to dinner and had proved he wasn't at all the young man he used to be. The occupation had humbled him somehow. Made him more forgiving to others and made him cling more readily to his last family.

"My editor loves your story." Beth was saying as she poured wine for herself and Phillip. "I think he's going to publish."

"Wait, publish?" Ariadne said. "You never said anything about publish."

"Of course I did!" Beth laughed.

"Beth, we don't know where Arthur is!" Ariadne said as that knot in her back tightened again.

"Right, but my editor thinks the story should end with Arthur putting you on the plane to London. He thinks it's more romantic that way. Kinda a 'Casablanca' ending." Beth said.

"They love things that romanticize the war." Phillip said in French as he handed Ariadne a glass of water.

The two cousins exchanged a secretive look and she smiled at him.

She winced as the back pain hit her again.

"Ariadne, are you alright?" Beth asked as she looked worriedly at the pretty nurse.

"Yes." Ariadne gasped as she suddenly didn't want to eat.

"Ari-Bell?" Phillip questioned. His thin face pulling into a scowl.

"I think I might be in labor." Ariadne breathed.

"It's too soon. It's six weeks too soon." Beth said logically.

"Owe!" Ariadne said as she felt a sharp pain rip through her.

"Ariadne, no." Beth said as Phillip helped his cousin to stand. "I told you, it's too soon. You're not due till early September. It's only July."

"Phillip." Ariadne gasped as her cousin helped her hobble out of the apartment.

~ She told her cousin to call Robert as Beth checked her in.

"Who is he?" Phillip asked.

"A friend." She whispered. "My employer, but he's been very good to me."

Phillip nodded and made the calls.

~ Robert was there in less then an hour.

"Sorry it took so long." He breathed as he looked freshly roused from sleep.

"Thank you for coming." She whispered as he took her hand.

Beth said nothing as Robert played the part of husband and expectant father so well, the staff took it on faith he was the father to be.

"You folks can wait outside." The doctor ordered. "This is not the time for everyone to be here."

"No." Ariadne breathed as she felt a strong desire to push.

She didn't want to be alone. Not again.

"Robert, please stay." She begged.

Robert nodded and refused to be moved.

~ The pain felt like she was being boiled alive. The well groomed young man questioning the doctor as to why she wasn't given something for the pain. The doctor was old and believed the pain of child birth was God's punishment for original sin.

"The price of being a woman. The price of eating the forbidden fruit." The old man said.

Robert tried to get her another doctor, but her son was soon brought into the world screaming great gulps of air at the shock of being born.

"Is he alright?" She called to the nurses who didn't let him hold her baby right away.

"He looks alright." Robert said pushing back the hair off her sweaty brow. "He's getting plenty of air." He laughed as they could hear the baby scream.

~ Finally, her son was swaddled and soothed and placed in his mother's arms.

"Ariadne, he's so perfect." Robert laughed. "Arthur would be proud of you."

Ariadne recognized her handsome major in her tiny son's sweet face. Beth and Phillip crept into the room slowly to peek at the new family member.

"Hi." Ariadne laughed at her sister-in-law. "Beth, this is Robert. I've been taking care of his father."

"Pleased to meet you." Beth whispered. She didn't seem to judge Ariadne for having Robert with her. Her sister-in-law seemed to understand

"What's his name?" Phillip asked as her son opened his eyes to peek as his family.

"Adam. I want to name him after Arthur's father." Ariadne whispered.  
"I think that's wonderful." Beth almost cried.

"Beth. I want you to call your mother. I want her to know her grandson is here. I want her to see him." Ariadne said. The swell of motherhood made her forgive everything Lydia had done.

Made her realize how hard it was for the older woman to lose so much in just a few years.

"Are you sure?" Beth questioned.  
"I'm positive. I want Adam to know his grandmother." Ariadne said looking back at her husband's face in miniature.

~ Arthur had received another promotion. He was now a Lt. Colonel and in command of his own unit. He felt nothing as he talked to the bedraggled men under his new command. He didn't care if they lived or died. If he lived or died.

"Pack your bags, Colonel." The general said one day.

"What's happened, Sir?" Arthur asked. He couldn't take one more thing going wrong. By his count, his child was due in a month.

"You're going home. Special orders from General Eisenhower. You have friends in high places." The general said stiffly.

Arthur didn't have to be told twice. He ran out of the barracks and in record time, packed a small bag. He took with him only his dress uniform, his books and is cigarette case. Everything else, he would leave behind.

~ The voyage home was strange. Arthur kept waiting for something else to happen to him. For the ship to sink, for it to be delayed. But, it arrived in New York on time. He wore his dress uniform that was too big because of all the weight he lost. He felt someone would ask if he had stolen the uniform as he was sure he didn't look at all like the highly decorated officer he was.

~ His first stop was the war office. A place crowded with men and women looking for information about their loved ones. He waited in line for almost four hours before a F4 clerk was able to see him.

"Do you have any idea how many MIA cases I have, Sir?" The youth explained.

Arthur lost what little reserve he had left and quickly reached over the clerk's desk pulling him off his feet so they were face to face. The youth almost crying from fear as Arthur held him up by the collar.

"Not _Sir_. It's Lieutenant Colonel. I was at Normandy, Paris and Berlin." Arthur growled.

The youth paled as the other people in the crowded office fell silent and looked at the the heavily decorated, high ranking officer in his dress uniform.

"Now, you go and get my file and tell me what address you have for my wife." Arthur said in his most authoritative tone shoving him back over his desk.

The youth silently obeyed and glanced back at Arthur with large, scared eyes.

~ Adam cries woke his mother. She had been dreaming of the bombings. Of little babies crying in the dark shelters. Her son's cries reaching her and rippling down into her dreams. She was in a shelter with Trixie as the two women tried to be brave as bombs dropped on them. Bombs falling so hard the ground shook.

"Who's baby is that?" Trixie asked her. Ariadne paused over a wounded old man.

"I don't know." She told her friend.

Suddenly, the cries became too real and she was jerked out of sleep to hear Adam was crying for her.

The baby was small from being born too soon, but he was healthy and soothed by his mother picking him up. She changed him and fed him and he was the sweet baby again.

She watched him fall back asleep and wondered what time it was. Beth had left for the office and she had the apartment to herself. Her editor wanted to met with Ariadne about getting her story published. Ariadne wasn't sure. She wasn't sure if she was ready for the world to know her story. Walking out of France, the bombings, Arthur. Not even Robert knew all the things Beth wanted to publish.

Robert had been wonderful. He had kept his distance from mother and son, but let her know that if Arthur didn't make it back home, he wanted her to consider marrying him.

It was something Ariadne hadn't been able to think about. She couldn't think about a life without Arthur. Robert was a safe choice. An easy choice to make for herself and her son. However, with Robert, her lips never wanted his. She never found herself thinking of his hands the way she did with Arthur. She never blushed at the thought of Robert or wanted to sneak into his bed like she had done with Arthur.

Things with Robert were just not the same as they were with Arthur. She didn't think it was fair to either of them to try and force it.

She looked at her baby sleeping and then at her compact. She had kept it open and on her night stand so she could fall asleep with her husband each night. Deep in the dark parts of her heart, she knew he was dead. She knew eventually, she would receive a telegram from the war office. Her son would get a box containing his father's medals and Ariadne would have to tell her son how wonderful and heroic his father had been.

Her son would have to look at his father's medals and she would have to try to make him understand why his father wasn't here.

She would have to tell him about Normandy beach. About the men he rescued from a POW camp. The bombing of the barracks in Paris. The men he lead and went back for when she broke her leg.

Of their picnic in a field of dieing summer flowers. Of how she danced on his feet on their wedding night.

She cried a little at that memory. He had been a light in the darkness of this war. The one good thing she could hold on to. The one thing that made her happy, that had made her special. He had married her, loved her and given her a perfect son.

Now, could she move on and be happy?

She looked at Arthur's newspaper photo in her compact. His face comforting and steady. She could never stop loving him and didn't want to.

~ She was pulled from her thoughts by a knock on her door. Adam slept on as Ariadne stood and went to the front door.

A ghost greeted her.


	54. Chapter 54

54.

~ "Arthur?" She croaked.

Her husband, her officer stood before her in the doorway. He was thinner and worn looking, but it was defiantly him. His eyes looking intently over her face as his large hands were touching her hair, her face, her lips.

"Arthur?" She cried again as her hand went to his uniform. She could feel the fabric of his dress jacket. The coarseness of it confirming he was real.

"I'm sorry, I tried calling mother and..." Arthur said as his sunken eyes peered over her. He stared at her as if she might not be real. The traumatized soldier not trusting his own eyes.

"Arthur." She cried as her vision of him became blurry through her tears.

She was in his arms then. She could feel how thin he was. How even his smell was different. But he was real and he was home.

She cried as he was apologizing and asking about the baby. His hands in her hair as his lips caressed her cheek.

Her soldier was scared to look at his sleeping son. The pretty nurse kneeling before the baby and telling him how she named him after his father. The colonel knew what to do in battle, but was clueless in the sudden role of fatherhood.

To be thrust from a war zone, into quite domestic life, seemed to shake him.

She looked for little things that reminded her of the man she had married, and could find nothing familiar there.

~ She had waited as he took a long, hot shower. Handing him the clothes she had bought for him when she arrived in America. Anticipating his return and wanting to be ready.

"Might be a little big. You've lost weight." She whispered as he got dressed.

He nodded and said nothing to her. He came out clean and his face neatly shaven. She fed him a small dinner and they spoke very little.

He wanted to know how long she and Beth had been living here. How she was earning a living. She answered all his questions and tried to get him to eat more.

He shook his head as it started to rain.

She worried what it would be like now. Her husband looked and acted so different. So haunted and beaten. She thought about the man who beat his wife to death as Arthur stood up.

"Let's go to bed." He told her simply.

~ Little hands, little feet, little body and a shock of wild, dark hair.

Ariadne had her son tucked in between her and Arthur in their bed. The new parents laying on their sides so the three of them could all stay in one bed, overlooking their son.

It had started to rain outside and it felt natural for them to crawl into a warm, safe bed.

"Didn't know you had that picture." Arthur whispered nodding to her opened compact on her night stand.  
"It's from the news article about you rescuing those POW's back in Paris. Remember?" She asked with a soft smile.

"How could I forget?" He said with the ghost of a grin that she remembered. "Not a great picture of me. I look mad."

"Yeah, it's not that great." She agreed dryly. "Thinking of replacing it with Humphrey Bogart." She added.

Arthur seemed to consider this. His brows raising up and his head cocking to one side.

"I don't blame you. All the girls say he's _dreamy_." He said and Ariadne snorted a laugh.

"I carried that picture of you ever since we met in Paris. I like to go to sleep looking at you." She told him.

That seemed to make him happy.

"I carried this picture of us with me." He whispered retrieving his cigarette case. "I like having my sweetheart to look at."

Ariadne blushed when she saw her own forgotten picture looking back at her.

"Shame you had to come home to your wife." She said sympathetically. Her eyes teasing.

"I know, real shame." He laughed.

She felt her husband's kiss on her then. His lips igniting a spark in her memory at what it was like to be loved.

"I'm so glad you're home." She whispered. "Why didn't you write? I was so worried."

"I'm sorry. After I was captured, I was sent to Berlin. They wouldn't let anyone make contact. The War Department..." he sighed.

"Yeah, I know how they are." She said and looked down at her baby.  
"I wanted to. I really did want to tell you I was alright." He said by means of an apology.

"I know you did. I know you wanted to come home." She sighed. "Do you want to talk... about what happened over there?" She asked.  
"No." He said curtly. His body shifting as his son held onto his father's finger. Just a few hours ago, she had pictured a life for her son without him. Now, he was alive again and looking over the same son. "I want to pretend it was all just a bad dream."

"It wasn't Arthur." Ariadne said. "Cobb, when he came home, he wasn't right. I don't want you to be like that. I want the man I fell in love with back."

"I _am_ the man you fell in love with." He said somberly. "It's just... it may take me a while to be him again."

She nodded and ran a hand over his gaunt looking cheek.

Arthur looked worried.  
"Are you still the girl I fell in love with?" He asked. "Are you still the girl I dreamed into life? The girl who had a picnic with me? Who went to the front even though she promised not to? The girl who danced on my feet on our wedding night?" He asked. His voice breaking as for the first time ever, she saw tears fall out of his eyes.

She wasn't that girl. War and time had changed her so much. She wasn't sure she was that same girl who he wanted her to be. She surely wasn't the same girl with the bleeding feet.

She bit her lip.  
"I'm the same girl who loves you." She whispered.

Adam was cooing in her arms. Kicking his legs at them.

"He's a fighter huh?" Arthur said wanting to change the subject and looked over his tiny son.

"I'm sorry he was born early." Ariadne said.

"That's not your fault. All the stress my mother put you under." He said. An angry scowl darkening his face.

"I want you to forgive your mother." She said.

"No. Not after what she did to you. If I had known she was like that, I would have had you stay in London. I just thought... she would love you." He said helplessly. His eyes sad.

"Arthur, the poor woman lost her husband and her two sons in just four years. Then her youngest, her baby, sends home some pregnant stranger to live with her? It was too much." Ariadne said. Becoming a mother suddenly made Ariadne more sympathetic to Lydia.

"You're too good." Arthur said kissing her. "I don't deserve you."  
"I know you don't." She teased.

She was laughing and blushing as Arthur could not stop kissing her.

"I bought you some more clothes to wear. I don't want you in uniform all day, Soldier."

"What if I don't like them?" He asked nuzzling her ear. Her heart fluttering wildly like it was when they first met. His smell back and her body turning into his kiss. Irrationally she was afraid they might be caught and that made the moment all the more exciting.

"What's that got to do with anything?" She asked furrowing her brow.

"Hey, be nice." He laughed. "I'm a returning war hero. Be nice to me."

She was giggling as her husband moved in closer to her and their son.

~ Beth came home that evening and went strait to work at her type writer. Not even noticing the change in the air at her brother's return.  
"Beth?" Ariadne called to her sister-in-law.

"What is it?" Beth called back.

Ariadne suppressed a smile as Arthur held Adam in his arms. The baby falling asleep easily.

"Look who's here." Ariadne said.

Beth turned and looked annoyed at being bothered.

"Arthur." She said in shock at seeing her brother. Ariadne took the baby from him as Beth rushed to hug him.

"Arthur! I'm so glad you're home!" She cried. "I thought I might never see you again!"

Arthur was smiling.

"Beth, you know have any saucy lines for me?" He asked. "I was looking forward to them all day."

"Oh, shut up!" Beth cried as she refused to let go of her brother.

Ariadne happy to see Arthur laughing.

~ "That's amazing the Phillip is alive and here in America." Arthur whispered that night. Adam had woken them up for his feeding and the new parents were happy to be roused from their light sleep. Arthur wasn't used the sounds of a crying baby and his first instincts when he heard Adam cry was to wonder who's baby it was.

Ariadne changed him and fed him. The baby soothed back to sleep easily.  
"I can never thank Beth enough for finding him." Ariadne whispered as Adam nodded back to sleep. His shock of dark, feathery hair standing out wildly.

She climbed back into bed with the colonel and snuggled into his arms. Happy to have her body so easily fold into his.

"So, you got a promotion." She said nodding to his dress jacket hanging over a chair to preserve it's shape. The colonel's new rank obvious even tough he hadn't mentioned it to her.

"Yeah, it happens." He whispered as he seemed only interested in her.

She smiled as he kissed her. She suddenly felt very shy with her husbands return.

"Ariadne?" He asked suddenly. His voice almost frightened.

She looked at him. She wasn't used to seeing Arthur like this. His strength cracked and in need of healing.

"I won't be angry. I'll understand. Were you, I mean, did you keep company with someone? While I was gone?" He asked.

She didn't say anything.

He was asking if she had met another man. If she had been unfaithful to him.

Her mind briefly flew to Robert. How she had spent time with him, but never anything more a close friendship. She didn't want anything more from Robert then friendship.

She doubted Arthur would understand that. It was best to not let him ever know. Never let him know Robert was there when Adam was born or the Robert wanted to marry her if Arthur hadn't come back.

"No." She told him sadly. "I never kept company with anyone."


	55. Chapter 55

55.

~ Robert was waiting for her in his opulent apartment. He looked like he hadn't slept very well.

"I thought you were bringing the baby." He said. His eyes an unnatural blue that hinted he might have been crying.  
"Robert, what happened?" She asked. She could sense right away something was deeply wrong.

The apartment was too still. Something hung in the air that couldn't find it's way out.

Robert didn't answer.

Ariadne walked past him and into the library that was the old man's room.

Maurice lay dead in his bed. His mouth hung slack open and he stared lifelessly out at nothing.

"It just happened." Robert said coming up beside her. "He was gasping and I couldn't make out what he was saying."

Ariadne felt the room was still cold. She had been told, as a nurse, about the angel of death and had felt that cold draft that pricked her skin so hard it hurt. The angel was still in the room. Still hovering over them. Looking for anyone who might want to come with it.

Quickly, she ushered Robert out of the library as he spilled out his father's dieing words.

"He kept gasping and trying to tell me something." Robert said. "He finally got out how proud he was of me. How proud he was I married you and that we were giving him a grandchild. He looked at me in such a nice way, Ariadne. It was like he loved me. He never looked at me that way before." Robert said as Ariadne wondered who to call.

~ Robert calmed down as Ariadne called the coroner. A grim little man came out and pronounce Maurice dead and took the body away.

"Looks like heart failure." The man said as Robert signed the forms.

The well groomed man sat in silence as Ariadne tried to encourage him to drink something.  
"I can't believe he's gone." Robert breathed.

"I'm sorry." Ariadne whispered.

"Where's the baby? You said you would bring the baby today. Dad wanted to see him." Robert said coming back to reality.

Ariadne had a prepared speech. But didn't know how to say it now. Didn't know how to tell Robert that she could never see him again.  
"Adam is at home." She whispered instead.  
"With Beth? Why didn't you bring him?" Robert asked.  
"Adam is with his father. He wanted to watch him." Ariadne said sadly.

Robert said nothing. The well groomed man looked back at the library. His face turning as if he had eaten something sour.

"Arthur is home." The young man said logically.

"Yes." She said feeling guilty. "He came home yesterday. He was captured and then they sent on a mission. They wouldn't let him contact me because they had to debrief him first. He had seen a lot of the Nazis crimes and they needed his statement. They even want him to go to the Nuremberg. For the trials." She said sadly.

"So your husband made it home. That's wonderful." Robert said not sounding happy at all.

"It is wonderful." She told him.

"Is he alright? Has the war changed him like it did with Colonel Cobb?" He asked. The young man stood and thrust his hands in his pockets. He looked suddenly cold and indifferent. Every bit the selfish spoiled man she first thought he was.

"I think so. He's a little shaken, but not as bad as some of the others you described." She told him.

"If he ever hits you, or you're afraid he will, I want you to bring yourself and the baby here. Don't wait for him to hurt you again." Robert said not looking at her.

"Robert." She breathed. She found she was hurting in a deep forgotten place. She realized she cared for Robert and hated to hurt him.

"Don't say it won't happen. You can't know it won't happen. Just promise if it does, you'll leave. Please?" He asked. His blue eyes bright with tears again.

Ariadne bit her lip and tried not to cry.

"I promise." She said softly.

Robert nodded.

"I wanted to be respectful of what you and Arthur were going through. I never made a move that you didn't want." Robert said.  
"I know." She whispered. Her vision blurring from the tears.  
"I do love you. If you decide to leave him, please come to me. Bring yourself and the baby. I'll make sure you get custody. You won't lose your son." He promised.  
"I won't leave him, Robert. I love him. I've always loved him. The moment I met him and he thought I was just a dream, I've loved him. In a way, he thinks he dreamed me into life." She said feeling the urge to laugh. "I know you care for me, but I belong with him. I was always meant to be with him." She whispered.

Robert looked angry and bitter.

"Robert, you will find someone. I know you will." Ariadne said trying to comfort him.

"No." Robert said stiffly. "No, I won't. I imagined a life with you and I..." He seemd to lose his thoughts as Ariadne tried not to cry.

She left her friend to his own greif.

~ Arthur was looking over a pair of small baby shoes.

He had found them under Adam's bassinet. They were beautiful, shinny leather and his mind instantly raced to that broken camp where there was piles of shoes from people turned into ash. All he could think of was those shoes and these shoes. His sons little shoes that were so small, both pair could fit in the palm of his hands.

He was thinking of the bodies of helpless men, woman and children left to rot in the snow. The snow coating them and they looked like old socks. Too rotten to ever wash clean.

Adam cried and woke him from his trance.

Arthur wasn't used to babies. Ariadne said she would be right back and he worried about what to do for the little thing screaming in his bassinet.

"Hey... Soldier." Arthur said still in military mode. He carefully, and clumsily, picked the baby up and Adam stopped crying.

The pretty nurse had left a bottle for the baby and showed Arthur how to prepare it. Arthur felt that he could face a battalion of enemy soldiers before he could heat a baby bottle successfully.

With one hand, he held Adam and tried to heat water in a pot. The baby leaning trustingly on his father and cooing.

"It's alright, Soldier." Arthur said he recalled all his wife taught him. His son so calm. Sensing his father was trying his best.

It was wonderful to feed a baby. He understood why Ariadne loved it so much. Why she never complained of the late night feedings. Adam's dark eyes looked directly at him. Arthur realized how much the baby looked like him. How his son seemed to have his own face, just smaller.

He didn't hear the keys turn in the lock and Ariadne come in.

"I'm sorry I was late. My boss's father died." Ariadne whispered as she watched Arthur feeding the baby.

"It's alright. I survived the war in Europe, I think I can manage to look after my own son." He said with a proud smile.

Ariadne watched as Adam finished eating and instructed Arthur to burp him before the baby fell back asleep again.

"He's so content. He's the most content baby I've ever seen." Ariadne mused.

Arthur smiled at the feel of Adam's warm, little body next to his.

"I'm sorry the man you were taking care of died." He whispered.

"It's alright. I can get a job at the hospital now my leg is healed." She told him.

"No." Arthur said sternly. She looked up at him in surprise.

"We have a baby to take care of. You need to be at home with him." Arthur said. "I'm home now, I don't want you working."

"Arthur, we have bills to pay, and I like working." Ariadne said logically.

" I'm partner at my father's firm." Arthur explained crisply. "I'll go and see them today and take the position they were holding for me."

"Arthur." She tried to interject.

"We also have the family trust. Something my mother can't take away. We can live very well off that." Arthur told her. "I don't want you working right now. When Adam is a little older, we can talk about you going back to school. Just like we planed" He said.

"I want you to see your mother. I want her to see the baby." Ariadne told him.

"No. She called my wife horrible things and allowed her to almost live on the streets with my child." Arthur growled. "I can never forgive her."

~ Ariadne was sitting in the same spot that evening. Watching someone else hold her son.  
Lydia looked enchanted by the baby. Adam's wild, feathery hair winning over even the coldest heart.

"He looks so much mike my boys did." Lydia said with a soft smile. Tears blooming in her eyes.

"Really?" Ariadne asked.

Lydia nodded.  
"Arthur was born a little early to. _Feet first_ I might add." Lydia said with mild resentment.

Ariadne smiled.

"I guess our little man was just in a hurry to be born." The baby's grandmother said. The older woman looked at her daughter-in-law. "I'm so glad you're letting me see him. I didn't think you would. Linda told me you said to stay away."

"I never said that." Ariadne told her. "I told her you were the only one welcomed. I just didn't want her around. I don't plan to give her my baby."

Lydia shook her head.

"No, of course not. I want you to understand how crazed I was feeling. Grief, it's so terrible." The older woman said. "I lost my sons and husband in this war. I can still remember holding David when he was this little. The loss of my sons and my husband, of feeling so alone, I couldn't bare it."  
"I know. I've lost my family to." Ariadne whispered.

"That's right, you did." Lydia realized. Her eyes red from crying. "Ariadne, I'm so sorry for how I treated you. I know I can never hope to make it up to you."

"You don't have to make it up to me." Ariadne said. "I know it's been hard on you."

"I have something for you." Lydia sniffed and placed Adam gently in his cradle. A new gift his grandmother brought him.

The older lady removed a cloth handkerchief from her purse and pulled free a fine, brown stone diamond ring.

"This belonged to Arthur's grandmother. The one who kept getting arrested for protesting. The one who wanted to vote. Arthur was her favorite grandchild and she wanted him to have it. To give to his wife.

Ariadne took the delicate piece of jewelry. She had never seen such elegant work. Not even on the fingers of her Aunt.

"Thank you." Ariadne said as she slid it on her finger.

"It was wrong of me to it give to Linda. I can understand why Arthur couldn't marry her. She was so awful." Lydia cried as she watched Adam sleep.

The two women looked at the baby for a long time.

"Thank you." Lydia said at last.

"You're welcome." Ariadne whispered.

Lydia sniffed and wanted to change the subject.

"I hope the labor and delivery were not too difficult for you. Hard enough without your husband with you." She said.

Ariadne laughed.

"The whole time, the doctor refused me pain medication and said it was the price women had to pay for eating the forbidden fruit." She told her mother-in-law.

"What?" Lydia gasped. "Why, that is unacceptable! I shall call Doctor Write and tell him such a thing is most inappropriate! Forcing a young woman to suffer needlessly."

"You don't need to." Ariadne said a little surprised.

"Nonsense. I contribute to that hospital and they listen to me." She said standing up. A new power seeming to fill her. She looked formidable and not to be trifled with.

"You know, I was thinking that medical school would be a good idea. Beth is right, women of the world need to take a more active role in these modern times." She said.

"Thank you." Ariadne smiled. "Arthur wants me to go to NYU. Just a few classes to start." She shrugged.

"Splendid. I can talk to Doctor Write about your internship." Lydia added.  
"I was hoping you could look after Adam, when I start school." Ariadne asked meekly. "Arthur will be working and so will Beth and my cousin Phillip."

Lydia paused in the door.

"I would love that." She whispered.

"I want you to come over for dinner tonight. Arthur and Beth will be here and you can meet my cousin Phillip." Ariadne added.

Lydia looked ready to cry again.

"Well, that would be lovely. Shall I come at 6?" She asked in the prim voice that wouldn't ease out of her.

"That would be nice." Ariadne smiled.

She reached out and hugged the older woman.

Lydia was laughing.

"Now dear, I shall see you in a few hours. There is not need for emotion." She said and told her daughter-in-law goodbye.


	56. Chapter 56

56.

~ "It's good to see you again, Sir." Arthur said when arrived to the Cobb's home.

"I'm not your CO anymore, Arthur." Cobb said. "Why don't you call me Dom like everyone else?"

Arthur shook his head and looked embarrassed.

"No, I don't see that happening. I'll just call you: Cobb." Arthur said with a laugh.

The two me watched Cobb's children playing in the grass. Autumn was quickly approaching and they little ones were enjoying the last of the summer's warmth.

The last of the summer flowers.

"I want to thank you." Cobb said softly. "I never would have made it home if it wasn't for your sacrifice."

Arthur shook his head. He didn't like to think about that camp. That place covered in snow where he was hungry and cold. Where he knew at any moment he could die.

"So how have you been?" Arthur asked sitting up straighter and wrapping himself in a shield of steel. A thing that no words or memories of the war could penetrate.

Cobb laughed.

"It was hard being home at first. I wasn't used to seeing all the family and neighbors again. They all look at me really strangely." He said.

Arthur looked at his shoes.

Ariadne was always looking at him oddly at times to. Like she was worried he might break. Like she was afraid of him.

"How have you been dealing with it?" Arthur asked.

"Fighting with Mal a lot." Cobb confessed. "Sometimes, James won't finish everything on his plate and I just get so angry."

Arthur said nothing.

"Sometimes, I wish I was still over there. Things were much more simple." Cobb admitted. "Now, I just don't know how to act. I don't know how to act around my friends, my family."

Cobb looked at a very pretty woman who called to the children.

"My wife." Cobb said sadly.

"It will take time." Arthur said. He didn't know how to comfort his old friend. Didn't know the right words to say.

"This obviously stay between us, but Mal has be seeing a head shrink." Cobb laughed. His laugh was forced and their was nothing happy in his eyes.  
"Really?" Arthur said is shock.

"Yeah. A Dr. Robert Fischer. He's nice enough for a civilian during war time." Cobb told him.

Arthur looked at him in disbelief.

"He has asthma and counseling returning soldiers is his way of helping." Cobb explained

Arthur snorted back a laugh.

"The thing is, I think it's working. I think it's helping." Cobb told him.

"What? Getting your head shrunk?" Arthur teased.

"No." Cobb said numbly. "Just talking and working out what went on over there. He's always telling me to leave it behind. Not to let _that_ world infect _this_ word."

"That's very profound, Cobb." Arthur said. A smile tugging at his mouth. Cobb looked at his friend. A certain light dancing in his eyes as Arthur started to laugh.  
"Yeah, I wondered if he stole it from Plato or something." Cobb said breathing out a laugh. A real one this time.

The men sat for a long time talking at the summer day gave way into evening.

~ Arthur arrived home for dinner and was greeted by his wife and son.  
"I saw Cobb." Arthur said before he noticed the larger dinner party.

He almost stopped breathing at the sight of his mother.  
"What are you doing here?" Arthur barked as Beth stood beside the older woman.

"Arthur." Ariadne said in that nurses voice she used to keep people calm. "I invited her."

Arthur looked at his wife like she had betrayed him.

"Arthur, I'm so sorry." Lydia said. "For everything."

"You called my wife horrible things. You..." Arthur bit back what he really wanted to say. He swallowed hard.  
"I want her to see her grandchild." Ariadne explained holding the baby.

He couldn't hold onto anger when he say his pretty nurse holding his son like that. The baby's feathery hair had been combed, only to float back up again.

"You saw him, now you need to leave." Arthur snapped at the older woman.  
"Arthur, the woman lost her husband and two of her sons. Don't make her lose the last one." Ariadne said.

There was a fire in her eyes as she glared the colonel. Arthur stepped back as if she had slapped him.

For a long time, they dueled with their eyes. She still had that same fierceness, that same stubbornness that made her go to the front despite his wishes.

~ It had been an strange dinner. Arthur didn't talk much as Phillip introduced his new girlfriend and announced they were getting married.

"Wonderful!" Beth cried. "I'll finally get a wedding to plan. You know since Ariadne says she's already married and won't let me plan a renewal wedding for her and Arthur."  
"We already had our wedding." Ariadne smiled. She was thinking back to that perfect day and night when she wore her favorite blue dress and ate chocolate cake. Her Major looking so handsome as she danced on his feet.

~ That night, after dinner, Arthur noticed the large brown stone on his wife's finger.  
"Your mother brought it over. Said she was sorry for everything." Ariadne said as he made sure Adam would stay down for the night.

He nodded as he climbed into their bed. The idea of sharing a bed with her was still so new. Arthur's mother didn't talk much at dinner. He had noticed she had lost weight and looked to have aged so much in the past few years.

Her one comment to him was how glad she was he was home.

Ariadne left her baby to sleep for a few hours and returned to her husband.  
"So how was Cobb?" She whispered as Arthur turned down the light.

He sighed. His former commanding officer looked so different now. Like ghosts haunted him each night.  
"Are you worried that the war made me crazy?" He asked instead. "Cobb is seeing this head shrieker. A Dr. Fischer and now he talks all this psycho mumbo jumbo."

He thought he saw Ariadne flinch but it might have been a passing shadow.  
"I worry about it." She whispered. "I worry that you saw things there that might trouble you."

"I did. I did see things there that were horrible." He said sharply.  
"Tell me about them." She said.

He shook his head.  
"Arthur, I can tell by the way you look at Adam, the way you look at me, your mind is still in the war." She said softly. Her fingers lacing up his shirt.

"Tell me. Tell me everything. Then we never have to talk about it again." She said in the darkness.

Arthur said nothing. His mind chasing images of bodies that looked like old socks, snow, hunger and piles of shoes.

"It's not something I can talk to you about." He whispered.

"Arthur you act like I was here safe during the war. I walked out of France, remember? I survived bombings and I saw the beaches of Normandy. Stop acting like you have to protect me." She said feeling tears drop out of her eyes.

Her husband's strong, calloused hand going to her cheek.

"You know, while you were gone, I was surrounded by people who thought this war was so romantic and exciting. People who could never understand what it really was. The sacrifices, the fear, losing everything and everyone." Ariadne cried softly.

His lips were kissing hers.

"People who weren't there. We were there, and I missed having someone who I could talk to about it. Who had seen the things I saw." She added.

Arthur started talking. He told her about the camps he found. The bodies. The ovens meant to turn people to ash. Those haunted places where horrible crimes happened. The ambush, Dax dieing, the

Nazis capturing him. Little Prick, Colonel Burch, the march into Berlin. The children he had shot in the fog.

Ariadne was quite and asked no questions.

She absorbed everything he said and processed it.  
"I think the general wants me to testify soon. At the trials in Germany." Arthur whispered.

She nodded and wiped away tears. She had heard about the death camps. Heard about the horrible waste of life. She thought about how lucky she was her son was safe and that most of her family was still intact.

She told him the dream of being a black crow in a field of white. About staying out in the snow so she could feel cold and hungry. She told him about Robert. How Maurice had thought he would be a grandfather. How kind Robert had been to her. How he was there when Adam was born. How Robert wanted to marry her if Arthur didn't come home.  
"Do you want to be with him?" Arthur asked. His voice indifferent.  
"No." She said honestly.  
"Why not?" He asked. "He sounds like a nice guy. He was right, our romance was very quick. We were swept up in the war."

She thought about it for a long time.  
"How could I love anyone but you? He could never understand me like you do. I was always meant to be with you." She whispered as her husband was kissing her her. Their lips meeting over and over with such hurried passion, they feared they might die if they separated.


	57. Chapter 57

57.

_France, 1955_

~ Arthur was riding his rebuilt motorcycle slowly over the forgotten roads around the family's weekend house. One of the perks of his job at the American Embassy, he could use the Durand's old home just outside of Paris.

Phillip had returned to his own country a year after the war ended. He longed for his homeland and spent five years restoring his boyhood home to it's former glory.

When Arthur and his young family made the move to France a few years ago, his wife was happy to be so close to her cousin again. Arthur and Ariadne both wanted to return to the city they had found each other in.

The former Army officer was lucky to land such a position with the embassy. His education and war record had impressed all the right people and, with the rebuilding of Europe, there was real work for him to do. His wife, Ariadne, found a position as a doctor in a French hospital. Mostly working with babies and overly protective mothers.

She loved her work as everyday she was surrounded by children who bloomed into life in an endless title wave.

~ Arthur drove carefully as the small boy, no older then four, was holding onto the handle bars of the bike. His thin, little body sitting in front as his father drove them back up the drive and to the barn.

"Daddy, again!" The boy screamed as Arthur easily picked him up and sat him on the ground. No matter how much his mother fed him, he never seemed to gain weight. His body turning long and lean like his father's.

Arthur sighed as he saw his always beautiful wife coming to the barn from inside the big house.

Phillip had lovingly restore the gardens to their per-war magnificence. The young man's attempt to honor his parents by rebuilding their home.

"I don't think so, Colonel." Arthur said knowing what was coming.  
"I _know_ you didn't take my son on that death trap." Ariadne said running her hands over a dish towel.

"I was careful. We just went around the driveway and back." Arthur said as the skinny little boy hugged his mother's legs.

"Daddy took me on _all_ the dirt trials." The child said happily.

Arthur sighed as Ariadne looked angry.

"Where's your brother?" She asked. "Why don't you play with Adam?"

"No, he's playing solider in the woods with cousin Tomas." The thin boy said.

"Then go play with Elizabeth. She's inside." Ariadne said her fingers running over the boy's feather like hair.

The child groaned and held onto her tighter. His brother, sister and cousins by Phillip and his wife were too old for him and didn't let him play.

"Nathaniel, I don't care where you go so long as it's not here." Ariadne said sharply.

"Listen to your mother, Colonel." Arthur said using the boy's nickname.

Arthur had named his youngest son after Colonel Burch who had saved him and thought of him like the son he never had. It only seemed right to name the skinny, little boy after him.

Besides, Arthur liked having someone to call 'Colonel' again.

The little boy ran off through the large garden and into the house to find his older sister.

Ariadne turned to her husband.

"I was careful! I drove slowly the whole time. I swear." Arthur said throwing his hands up in surrender. He would rather face a thousand Nazis then see that angry look on his wife's face.

"I don't want Nathaniel anywhere near that stupid thing!" She said giving the motorcycle a dirty look. "You know how he looks up to you. I don't want him thinking it's alright to ride it."

"You weren't complaining last night when I took you on a midnight ride." He said saddling off the bike and pulling her reluctantly to her.

She still looked angry and tried to push him away.

"As I_ recall_ you really enjoyed it. We didn't even make it to the bedroom. Thank God for the hay loft." He whispered as he could feel his wife blushing hard under his lips.  
"You stop that." She whispered. Her eyes dancing brightly as her husband held her close. "That thing is a menace." She said as Arthur was kissing her and his hands were roaming down her dress front. Quickly undoing the first few buttons.

"And your mother agrees with me." She added.

Arthur sighed. They only thing that cooled him down when he wanted his wife, was mentioning his mother.

"Oh baby, the thrill is gone." He groaned as she was smiling at him.  
"Well, she's going to be here this afternoon. Her work with the all the war orphans has kept her so busy. She hasn't seen Nathaniel since his 2nd birthday."

"It's been _ten years_ since the war ended. Are their still war orphans?" Arthur said kissing her neck as she tried, unsuccessfully, to escape his strong arms.

"I think these days, it's for all orphans of all wars." Ariadne said.

The work Lydia did had started when Ariadne told her about the countless children left in Europe who's parents were killed. Leaving them alone, hungry and homeless. Since then, Lydia had thrown herself full speed into a cause that sent them to school, made sure they were fed and had a decent future. The work had eased some of the coldness and pain that had come over Lydia and she seemed much happier and more fulfilled.

"Also, Beth and Eames are coming in tomorrow and I don't want you showing off your death trap to him." Ariadne added nodding to the bike.

Arthur sighed.  
"I will never forgive myself for introducing Beth to Eames." Arthur said.  
"Eames is a good husband and father." Ariadne scolded.  
"I know he is, and he deserves better then _Beth_!" Arthur said as Ariadne laughed.  
"Oh, I think he might keep her." She said as the couple watched Nathaniel race out of the house with one of his sister's dolls. A small, pretty, dark haired little girl was running after him and yelling.

Arthur laughed and Ariadne gasped as Elizabeth tackled her little brother and snatched back her doll.  
"That's my girl." Arthur chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Ariadne's mid section.

"I keep trying to get her to act like a lady but it just won't take. This is all _your_ fault." She said to her husband.

Arthur shrugged.

"Well, maybe if this new one's a girl, maybe she'll be the helpless princess you like and not the confident girl I like." he said running a protective hand over the slight swell of their fourth child.

"Are we going to tell Cobb and Mal tonight?" She asked.

Another perk of the country house was living so close to Arthur's old Army buddy. Cobb had accepted a teaching position in France. Each day he spent time with young people and taught them all about art and literature. The pace of France these days seemed to strengthen him. The country's mood was much more energetic now that the war was over.

"I was hoping we could wait till everyone was under one roof to give them the big news." Arthur said as they watched Elizabeth push Nathaniel back down in the grass.  
"I don't know how big the news is." Ariadne said. "I'm sure Mal thinks I'm a rabbit." Ariadne sighed.

"She's one to talk. How many kids do they have now?" Arthur asked.  
"Five." Ariadne said.

"It's a baby boom. That's what their calling it back in the states." Arthur said holding her closer. Her back to his chest as they watched their oldest come out of the woods with Phillip's son Tomas. Adam was a tall boy even a ten. He was quite and thoughtful as he helped his younger brother out of the grass and brushed off the dirt. Nathaniel looking up at his big brother adoringly.

"I think it's a good thing." Arthur added as they watched the kids. "This world saw too much death and now it's trying to come back."

"Well, were stopping at four." Ariadne said authoritatively.

"Are me now?" Arthur said. His voice mocking.

"Yes we _are_." Ariadne said pulling away from him.

"Pick you up for another late night ride, nurse?" Arthur called after her as she walked back to the house. Ariadne turned back to him and nodded.

"Sure thing, Captain." She said.

**~ END ~**

Thank you all so much for reading and following this story. It was a long one I know. The longest I've ever done in fact.

I wanted to emphasize that the Nazis were different from the Germans in the war. Too often we group people together and give them labels they don't deserve.

I'm a 6th generation Texas and proud of it. What I'm not proud of, is our elected officials giving my home state a bad name. These men (Bush II) are not even from Texas. Just because they are the loudest, does not mean they speak for everyone. Hopefully, people in the future won't judge Texas too harshly for the ass holes we have in office right now.

They really do not represent the poor, the working class, women, children or anyone other then their own interests. I've always felt Bush II was another Hitler, and the fact that he slanders my state by pretending to be from it pisses me off.


End file.
